MADRID, 8 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation (RFEA), Raúl Chapado, stated this Thursday that he is “totally in favor of the fight against doping” and warned that Mohamed Katir is not “eligible” to compete even if he obtains the precautionary measure after being provisionally sanctioned for three location failures, a case where the federative body must have “a neutral position at all times.”
Chapado appeared before the media a day after the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU, in English) provisionally suspended the long-distance runner from Murcia for those three location failures for anti-doping controls, something that Katir has denied, saying yes. was available”.
“First of all, I say that as president of the RFEA I am totally in favor of the fight against doping, of those athletes who compete in a clean and fair manner, and that we are obliged to comply with the regulations both in Spain and in international frameworks. “said Chapado in a press conference where he was accompanied by Ana Ballesteros, general secretary of the RFEA.
The president stressed that Katir's specific case is “very special” and insisted that it is “in process,” which prevents him from giving details. “We are in a first phase of investigation despite the fact that there is a provisional sanction, we are subject to confidentiality and the RFEA will always act within the legal framework,” he stressed.
Chapado does not forget that “the more level and success” the person involved has, as may be the case with the current 5,000 meter world runner-up, “the impact is greater.” “We cannot require athletes and coaches to comply with the regulations and not comply with them ourselves, we have to respect the procedure and make the evaluations at the end, otherwise it would be hasty and playing with speculation,” he said.
The head of the RFEA received notification of this provisional suspension “yesterday, Wednesday” through Katir's representative, with whom he has had “no contact” for now. “The current rules in the anti-doping field are that federations do not even interfere in open procedures,” he warned.
“We must have a neutral position at all times. I appreciate that your representative made a statement before the AIU announced the sanction. He informed me of the situation and read me the communication that they were going to launch,” said the former athlete, who reiterated that your agency must “cooperate as much as possible and respect procedures.” “If we were ingesting, someone would say we would be helping athletes,” he said.
The former jumper could not reveal “anything” about the dates on which Katir would not have been located, but he listed the steps that the AIU takes in these cases. “If there is a failed location, the AIU identifies the person and gives them time for allegations. If the control body understands that there is no justification, it communicates to the athlete, their federation and World Athletics that they have a failure,” he explained.
“When there are three, if there is no justification for removing any, they are given another period of allegations and if they are not addressed, that procedure, which is neither a sanction nor a file, passes to a body that is the one that investigates the sanctioning file. In this case, a file has been opened and it has been decided to apply a provisional sanction,” Chapado explained.
“NO IDEA” ABOUT WHETHER THE MULE COULD BE IN THE OLYMPICS
The president of the RFEA has “no idea” if this file will leave Katir without competing next summer in the Paris Olympic Games due to “legal deadlines.” He then insisted, just as his federation did this Wednesday in a note, that since they approved eligibility criteria in 2017, if an athlete has “an open file for discipline or doping, he is not eligible for the RFEA.” “If he has a precautionary measure, he is not eligible until there is a definitive resolution,” he asserted.
“The RFEA is clear that it is the responsibility of the athletes to comply with the anti-doping regulations, both with themselves and to keep this fight against doping integral. They have to have that commitment and the regulations must be known. We do training activities with young people in who are told all the risks of doping and the procedures,” commented Chapado.
Regarding Katir's insinuation on social networks, later deleted, that he could compete with Morocco after receiving criticism for what he considers “an administrative failure”, Chapado asked to “respect any comment” and demanded that the athlete not go further .
“No procedure justifies any attack for reasons of racism or beliefs,” stressed the leader, who also did not value Adel Mechaal's words in which he said that this suspension was “good news.” “They are personal opinions and we do not assess whether they are always within the respect and dignity of people,” he concluded.
“We have history to have learned. Anything around doping affects the reputation of a sport and is very worrying. If we think that doping has disappeared we are making a mistake, hopefully one day everyone who participates in the sport will comply with the rules. Of course that worries me, at a national and international level,” Chapado said.
“The anti-doping fight has to continue thinking about improving technology or processes, that is everyone's job, to collaborate in this fight to keep sport clean and fair,” stated the top leader of the RFEA during his press conference.