The problems seem to be piling up a lot for Spanish track and field athlete Mohamed Katir. The 5000-meter world silver medalist had already been suspended for two years in February after he missed three doping tests in a year. Now, it seems that the athlete is all set for more problems, as he recently received a four-year ban for a tampering violation. The 26-year-old has been accused of false travel documents during the investigations into the missed doping tests.

Mohamed Katir had apparently changed the itinerary of his travels along with his boarding pass and booking confirmation. This was done to justify missing his test on February 28, 2023, but was later found to be false and a ploy to mislead the investigators. He had also not logged in his whereabouts, which is required as per rules set by the Athletic Integrity Unit. This has now landed him in hot waters and has put his career at risk. The fact that his image among the fans isn’t great either doesn’t help his cause. This is because of his apparent arrogant nature, which can be seen in old social media posts that have now resurfaced.

An X user used this opportunity to bring up an old Instagram comment made by Mohamed Katir. While the main post of the said comment was not mentioned, Katir had replied to another user’s comment who had accused him of doping. This had visibly angered the track star, who decided to write quite an offensive response where he said, ” @rossrunning16 what hurts, friend? while you criticize me that this is normal, it is the nature of men when there is another man better than him; they envy him. Ask your wife if Katir is handsome or not; surely your wife would be delighted to be with a winner, not a loser.”

This X post got re-uploaded on the Reddit track and field community by a user. He/she announced the news and then opened the room for reactions. Most users reacted in an obvious manner to this offensive comment, echoing the sentiment that this was not a good decision by Mohamed Katir.

The fact that he’s now suspended for what the user accused him of also makes matters worse for him. Maybe if he had made a better response at the time, he would have been receiving less trolling right now. Unfortunately, his comment makes him look like an egoistic person in between fans who can’t tolerate criticism. “Arrogant much?” said one fan. Many others also reacted to the matter in a manner where they did not feel amused by the whole thing.

Track and Field Community angered by Mohamed Katir’s old Instagram comments

Most members of the track and field community did not like the comments made by Mohamed Katir. They believed that the response was not done in a decent manner and felt like he didn’t have much proof to prove the user wrong in the matter. Instead, the track and field athlete decided to resort to insults, thinking that this would give him the upper hand, which it didn’t. “You know he doesn’t have a good response when his go-to is ‘I’m hotter than you.”

Other users brought up his numerous suspensions in light of the comment. One user cited Jakob Ingebrigsten’s previous dig at the athlete. When Katir had won the silver medal in the World Championship with a time of 13:11:44, it was the Norwegian track star who had defeated him for the gold medal with a time of 13:11.30. After the race, Jakob sat down in an interview with the times where he took numerous shots at Mohamed Katir, who had already been suspended for whereabouts violations.

The middle-distance runner said that the problem of athletes using these substances has increased much more than it was a decade earlier. This is because these track stars have found new and innovative ways to evade giving tests for these substances. He then said that he thus revels in knowing that he defeated opponents that later get caught with suspensions. “It’s the ultimate destruction,” he said to the Times. “It’s more embarrassing for them—even when they have the audacity to cheat, and they are not doing it right.”

Thus, it seemed obvious that Jakob Ingebrigsten, who is not an individual who minces words, does not like Mohamed Katir. “Jakob is so right,” said one user. Another user asked the question: Would the Spanish track and field star’s medals be stripped off of him now that he’s suspended? In fact, they wanted to be the ones who would start urging the track federations to do so. “Can we petition to have his 2023 silver medal revoked and give the bronze to Luis Grijalva? He seems like a nice guy,” said the user.

Luis finished fourth in the 5000m race, in which Jakob won the medal, as he finished the race just 0.22 seconds away from bronze medalist Jakob Krop. If Katir’s medal is taken away, Krop will be upgraded to silver, while Luis Grijalva will get his hands on the bronze. This is the outcome that the user desires. However, this looks unlikely right now, as no such news of Mohamed Katir being stripped of his medals has come out.

Throughout all this criticism from the Reddit track and field community, one user did find Katir’s Instagram response humorous. “You guys are trippin, that response is hysterical!! The guy is a doper and should be suspended for a long time, but the dude is funny,” said the user. This might bring up the point where an alternate possibility is considered. Katir might have tried to make the community laugh, but it has now backfired on him. This has unfortunately not done his image any favors at all. His future in track and field also isn’t certain anymore. Thus, it seems that nothing is working for the track star right now.