Mehdi Frere: two-year ban for French marathon runner, misses Paris

Mehdi Frere of France finishes 2nd at the Paris half marathon on March 03, 2024. GETTY IMAGES.

From being key fiigure in the marathon discipline to being expelled from the Olympic event: anti-doping rules have denied the Olympic stage, which every athlete dreams of, to French marathoner Mehdi Frere, who has been suspended for two years, according to his lawyer.

“He was suspended for a period of two years by the disciplinary tribunal of World Athletics,” were the cold and blunt statements of the athlete’s lawyer, Laurent Fellous, who represents the Republican Guard.

The issue revolves around the status acquired by the 27-year-old runner as a suspect for three failures to meet his whereabouts obligations in a year, thus incurring the offense known as “whereabouts failures.” As was expected, the penalty is severe according to the regulations.

The international body World Athletics imposed a harsh sanction, suspending the Parisian police officer of Moroccan origin, Frere, for two years, barring him from all professional sports activities, including the Paris 2024 Games.

Fellous, the athlete’s defense lawyer who has come forward in recent hours, stated that they are attempting to appeal the ban before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and are hopeful of a positive decision for his client before the start of the Olympic Games.

“We will seek to appeal to the CAS within the framework of an accelerated procedure, with a view to obtaining an arbitral award before July 26, the opening day of the Games,” explained the lawyer, who also predicted that “a favorable outcome is feasible,” as Frere had already mentioned to French media in recent days.

Mehdi Frere of France, Bernard Koech of Kenya and Jorum Okombo of Kenya pose on the podium after the Paris half marathon. GETTY IMAGES.
Mehdi Frere of France, Bernard Koech of Kenya and Jorum Okombo of Kenya pose on the podium after the Paris half marathon. GETTY IMAGES.

Frere, one of the promising talents in this athletic discipline, recorded a personal best of 2 h 05 min 43 s in 2023 and finished 20th in this year’s World Cross-Country Championship held in Belgrade.

Despite the recent ruling by World Athletics against the athlete, it is worth noting that he has been provisionally suspended since 4 June by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU). This situation prevented him from competing in the last European Athletics Championship in Rome.

The CAS is undoubtedly the last hope for the gendarme, who aims to demonstrate his good faith. If the process continues as it seems, with the suspension in effect, the French Athletics Federation would already have designated the veteran Félix Bour as his replacement for the Games.



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