Mohamed Katir Receives Four-Year Ban for Tampering

Mohamed Katir the World 5,000m silver medallist has received a four-year ban for tampering after the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) discovered he falsified travel documents during an investigation into missed doping tests. Katir, 26, had already received a two-year suspension in February for missing three doping tests within 12 months. The AIU discovered that Katir altered his travel itinerary, boarding pass and booking confirmation related to one of the missed tests on 28 February 2023.

He attempted to mislead investigators about his whereabouts on that day. The AIU requires athletes to log their locations for unannounced out-of-competition testing, a rule Katir tried to bypass. The four-year ban which will run concurrently with the two-year suspension will extend Katir’s ban until February 2028. The AIU’s disciplinary tribunal concluded that Katir falsified documents to avoid a whereabouts failure and tried to persuade World Athletics that his failure to report his whereabouts on 28 February should not count as a violation.

Mohamed Katir, who won World Championship bronze in the 1500m in 2022 and silver in the 5,000m in 2023 will miss the upcoming World Championships in Tokyo (2024) and Beijing (2027). Although the AIU initially sought to disqualify Katir’s results from 9 March 2023 onward, the tribunal rejected this request as the whereabouts failure did not give him a competitive advantage.

AIU head Brett Clothier emphasized that this ruling demonstrates the seriousness of tampering cases, noting that since the AIU’s establishment in 2017, the organization has prosecuted 25 tampering cases. The ruling underscores the strict anti-doping rules in place to ensure a level playing field in athletics.