“It's always the ones you most expect” ; “Later bud” - Fans react to World Championships silver-medalist Mohamed Katir being charged for tampering

Mohamed Katir, World and European Championships silver-medalist, has been charged with tampering by the Athletics Integrity Unit. This comes after the Spaniard was provisionally suspended for whereabouts failure in February earlier this year.

Katir, the second-fastest man of 2023, failed to show up for out-of-competition drug tests on February 28th, April 3rd, and October 10th last year. These three consecutive non-appearances at his registered locations led to the AIU suspending the middle-distance runner for two years, a suspension he initially denied but later accepted. The athlete has now been charged with tampering.

Reacting to this new development, fans were quick to start a discussion on X (formerly Twitter), with one writing,

“It's always the ones you most expect.”

Another fan chimed in to say,

“Later bud.”

Here is how other track and field enthusiasts reacted to Mohamed Katir’s ban:

“🤦 FFS. I liked him as an athlete, just don’t know what to believe when watching anymore. Listening to Des and @karagoucher (I’m a little behind) this morning. Getting grief for posting about his whereabouts failure, waiting for apologies now?! Let me know how many you get!!!” one fan wrote.

“Knew there was something about him why I couldn’t stand him,” another netizen expressed.

“In a surprise to no one,” a X user joked.

“This is maybe the least surprising of the last batch,” yet another fan commented.

Mohamed Katir defends his whereabouts failure

In February, Mohamed Katir issued a statement after accepting his two-year suspension and defended his whereabouts failure. The Morocco-born began with an apology, then went on to add that his whereabouts failures weren't deliberate, and instead happened as the AIU platform wasn't functioning properly for him.

“The platform was not working properly, so I was limited to sending an email to the manager of WADA's ADAMS system to let him know where I was at the time and where I would be on subsequent dates. However, out of ignorance and thinking that ADAMS and AIU were the same, I did not inform AIU of this. I later learned that I was required to do so.”

Mohamed Katir went on to allege that despite missing his initial tests, he was regularly subjected to out-of-competition tests that proved negative.

“It is important to remember that even a few hours after committing some of these site failures, I was subjected to out-of-competition doping tests. The results were always negative.”

The Spaniard explained his decision to accept the suspension by saying that he felt the process of appealing the AIU’s ban would keep him away from the track for longer.

"Taking into account all of the above, and calmly analyzing the long processes that the various resources that I could present could take and which could lead to excessively long waiting periods (even until well after the Olympics), I am forced to accept the sanction proposed by the AIU and thus be able to start fulfilling it as soon as possible."

As of now, Mohamed Katir is set to miss the 2024 Paris Olympics and the 2025 World Championships, both events where he was a medal hopeful. With the new allegations of tampering, it remains to be seen if the athlete’s suspension is furthered.