Tyler Hamilton 'fails' blood test

uberwolf

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/3675726.stm


Hamilton 'fails' blood tests
Tyler Hamilton on his way to winning the time trial in the Tour of Spain
Hamilton is one of Lance Armstrong's main rivals
Olympic time trial champion Tyler Hamilton faces a ban for doping after reportedly failing blood tests in Athens and last week's Tour of Spain.

The 33-year-old American was found guilty of blood doping after winning the Vuelta's eighth stage, a time-trial, on 11 September.

Hamilton pulled out of the Tour on 16 September, citing stomach problems.

A previous 'A' test carried out in Athens on 19 August also reportedly showed up blood cell irregularities.

Georges Luedinger, a spokesman for Hamilton's Phonak team, said the International Cycling Union had informed them Hamilton's tests showed "presence of a mixed red blood cell population, indication of a homologous blood transfusion."

The ICU is awaiting the results of a second 'B' test on Tuesday designed to confirm the preliminary results.

Phonak team director Alvaro Pino said: "I received the news yesterday evening and I can't say more except to tell you that I spoke with the rider and, knowing him as I do, I'm relatively calm.

"He told me, 'Be calm, because this will work out in my favour and I'm telling you that sincerely, because there's absolutely nothing in this'."

Hamilton injured his back in a crash which led to his retirement during the 13th stage of the Tour de France in July, but bounced back to take Olympic gold in Athens.

He also famously went on to finish fourth in the 2003 Tour de France after breaking his collarbone in the first stage.

Blood doping is a method of increasing the number of red blood cells in the body which in turn carry more oxygen to the muscles.

In the past, blood would be removed from an athlete's system and then frozen and stored for several weeks before being reinjected into their system a day or two before a big race.

More recently athletes in endurance sports have used intravenously injected drugs such as erythropoietin (EPO) to get similar effects.

---

this would be a 'shocka'. So many feel good stories around this chap so this would ruin them all, and be another nail...

all pending the B sample

Trojan

I really hope this one isn't true, he's one guy I have a lot of respect for. He strikes me as one of the most honest athletes today, nevermind cyclists. Could this be part of the witchhunt?

More:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2004/sep04/sep21news3
http://www.velonews.com/race/int/articles/6984.0.html

uberwolf

innocent until proven guilty. but it appears he failed the same test on two occasions?

also crazily it appears that Michael Rogers would gain the bronze Olympic medal, this after gaining the time trial world championship of last year belatedly after Millars disqaulification for EPO use.

The Rooster

A "witchhunt" when a lad gets caught :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

If only they could get them all.

Tyler also comes across as a genuine nice guy, and he had improved a hell of a lot over the last 2 years or so. He wouldnt be on the top of my suspected cheats list, but when you think about it, its not a major surprise. Just a major disappoinment.

We'll see if he can prove his innocence, but 2 separate failed tests will be very difficult to disprove.

Trojan

He (as of any news report I've seen yet) has not been proven guilty of anything, so it's fair to comment that this may be part of the witchhunt.

Why didn't the IOC come out with the positive immediately after they discovered it, instead of now, weeks later.

I'm very sceptical of most pro cyclists performances given recent positives like Miller. I also believe LA has got to be doping, not because of his performances, but because of the Simeoni chase. Hamilton? He's the last guy on the planet I'd expect it from. Yes, it may turn out to be true, but I'd be much more sceptical of the test than Tylers word.

You mentioned he has to prove his innocence. What kind of reverse justice is that?

Something to ponder:

From http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/6990.0.html

Editors,
Re: Detection of Homologous blood doping.

I have searched the scientific literature for publications on this methodology. I have found a single publication, by Nelson et al. November 2003 Haematologica 1284-1295 in which they describe using this technology on a total of 25 patients. It appears to me that, given the difficulties in getting antibody dilutions correct for flow cytometry analysis and the relative novelty of this technology and its lack of validation in other laboratories, that this should be treated as an experimental technology. It is by no means foolproof. Using the results of such a novel technique to make decisions that threaten the career of any professional cyclist, let alone one of Tyler Hamilton's stature, is outrageous. To make such results public before further testing can be done is libelous.

Several questions must be asked at this point:

* How valid is the test on a larger population of athletes and normal people?
* Can the tests be reproduced in other labs not associated with the one who published the above paper?
* Is there any other evidence for blood doping such as high hematocrit or large changes in hematocrit from test to test?
* If the test is working is there another possible source of the homologous blood such as surgical procedures?

I hope that Tyler Hamilton can be cleared of this charge as quickly as possible and that there is no lasting taint from this scandal.

Sincerely,
David J. Heard, Ph.D (Biochemistry)
Paris France

It may be bs, but I'll wait and see before asking Tyler to "prove his innocence".

The Rooster

I think you're reading a bit too much into my "prove his innocence" comment. Maybe I should say, "succesfully argue that he is not guilty", but thats a lot more trouble for effectively saying the exact same thing!

He has tested positive, twice.

If he can prove the tests were faulty or incorrect, then he will have proved his innocence. If he cannot, then he will be found guilty, because the tests indicate he is guilty.

Trojan

Yeah, maybe I misread. Whatever the case, he has not had 2 positive samples from the same test - but rather 2 separate A samples, which is quite different. We'll eventually hear about the B samples, but I suspect bookies would give short odds on them being positive too.

Taking the case that blood doping is rife - surely these guys would use autologous transfusions rather than homologous (i.e. *if he was doping* surely he wouldn't be that stupid).

I'm still sceptical about the validity of these tests until I find some reliable sources agreeing that they are good tests. I guess I'm just hopingthat Tyler, of all people, is innocent

Trojan

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2004/09/23/SPGDG8TI6C1.DTL

From CyclingNews.com

Phonak claims one B test negative

The Phonak Cycling Team has issued two more statements in relation to the Tyler Hamilton case, claiming that one of his B samples has turned out negative. "With regard to the Tyler Hamilton blood testing case the Phonak Cycling Team takes the liberty to announce that the blood samples examined in the B-Test under the UCI procedure are positive. The B-Test blood samples taken under IOC, however, will turn out negative."

Phonak and Hamilton are continuing to cast doubt on the scientific method behind the test, and hopes to prove that there has been an error in the test in order to clear Hamilton. "Since the new method is an effort based on probability and interpretation measurements, uncertainties will remain in this examination and procedure in any case," said the team statement.

"Because neither UCI nor IOC have so far disclosed data and because legal procedures may last for a long time without a clear outcome, the team management has decided to establish a scientific board in order to achieve clarity as to the medical method and reliability of these new blood testing tools. This scientific board will consist of various scientists with outstanding reputations in this field. Those scientists will be teamed up from different sources and will look into the entire method and data and report as to whether the analysis conducted at the lab in Lausanne in connection with the B-testing is reliable. In order that the scientific board can commence its work the entire files have to be released from UCI and/or IOC. This is so far not the case although requested by Tyler Hamilton.

"Once the data is available the scientific board will come up with its results as soon as possible. For the time being the names of the scientists involved will not be disclosed in order to avoid that they are disturbed in their work or influenced in any way."

The team added that the media will be informed once the panel of experts has reached its conclusion. "The team's goal is, and this is in the exact interest of Tyler Hamilton, that we have clarity in the end. Moreover, if there is a way to improve the new method in order to avoid future uncertainties this will also be a part of the mandate to the scientific board. With the foregoing the team management believes that it can form part of the campaign against blood doping and bring this matter up to a world-wide acceptable level."

Phonak's final comment was that, "During this phase Tyler Hamilton is suspended from racing but stays with the team."
Tyler Hamilton's statement

Reproduced here in full is the latest statement from Tyler Hamilton:

First of all I would like to discuss the recent press releases concerning my suspension from the team. This decision was taken jointly by Andy Rihs in his function as team owner and myself and communicated already during the press conference held on Tuesday evening. I am still a member of the Phonak Cycling Team and will continue to participate in the day to day decisions concerning our team.

With regard to the B-test from the Olympic Games, no official information has been provided to me as of today. However, I am sure that the Gold medal that I worked so hard for will stay in my hands. I guarantee that I represented the United States of America as an honest, clean and proud athlete. As the Olympic Committee did not promptly inform me of the alleged anti-doping violation until one month after the event on August 18, 2004, it was not possible to defend myself before. Regardless of this I will prove my innocence.

I will support the scientific board established by Phonak Cycling and myself, which I strongly believe will put light on the questions we have on the reliability of this new test. Hopefully with this scientific team, we can find a foolproof method to this test in order to the prevent other athletes ending up in the same situation. I believe that this is the only way to bring clarity to this matter.

It is necessary that I will be released from the allegations based on a scientifically conducted correction of the testing method. It is of further essence that I can as soon as possible, together with my team, form part of a reinstated reputation with evidence that I have contributed to valid, reliable and watertight measures in the anti-doping campaign. In this sense I fully support this research and development project, and I am confident that its result will bring me back to cycling soon so I can pursue my dream of winning the Tour de France.

I very much appreciate the support of my family, my friends, my team and fans.

Tyler Hamilton

diskinr

I was floored when I heard the news about the test results.

It seems the olympic testing was sloppy due to second B test error.

But what puzzles me the most is why an athelete who blood dopes would choose to use somebody else blood in a transfusion due to the risks assciated with disease. Normally an athelete who blood dopes does so with his own blood several out several weeks before a major competition forcing the body to replace it.

Increasing total volume of red blood cells-
Blood transfusion of athlete's own blood: The athlete takes out 1-4 pints of his/her own blood several weeks before a major competition which forces the body to make more blood. Additionally, the athlete reinjects the stored RBCs days before the competition (2).

The German olympic atheletes perfected this in the 80s. And with EPO on the market why not take that instead. One thing I did not hear is what his hematocrit levels tested at.

Testing: It is difficult to detect blood doping because the substances are natural and are rapidly broken up by the body. The first test used looked at hematocrit levels for abnormal levels (43 for a healthy athlete, 50 is considered suspiciously high)(5). Blood profiles were used to see if there was an expected ratio of new RBCs to maturing RBCs. Blood and urine tests are used to look for the presence of recombinant products since analytical lab techniques can detect differences in the structure of the molecules. Most of these tests aren't "legally" conclusive and so instead of accusing the athlete of cheating, athletes are often put on a temporary health suspension until their hematocrits return to safer levels(6) .

I want to know what his hematocrit tested at!

According to Phonak and the IOC these were new testing methods and certainly something could have gone wrong. THe IOC also failed to disclose when they started using these new methods. Supposedley they were avialable for the tour de france.

The Rooster

It beggars belief how incompetent the IOC can be. Its unclear whether or not enough blood was taken in the B test, or whether it was stored incorrectly, but either way there were insufficient red blood cells in the B sample to determine whether or not it was positive or negative. It was mentioned during the recent Olympics coverage that there has never been a case where an A sample tested positive and a B sample tested negative. But the athlete gets the benefit of the doubt when somebody messes up, so he has not been "proved" guilty and keeps his gold medal.

Be intertesting to see now what the B sample from the 2nd test shows up. Though obviously the more important question is, is the test/results reliable - and Hamilton and his team are doing a good job at creating doubt about this. They may have a case.

Trojan

They froze the whole blood at -20C thus destroying the red blood cells - it's ok to store plasma at this temp but whole blood should be kept above freezing.

I dunno, I'm still wearing my rose tints, I'd prefer if a study came straight out and said the tests were not at all accurate, rather than "mishandling".

And dis: for sure autologuous is the way to go, there's no way in hell an athlete would use someone elses blood these days. One reason I'm so sceptical of this "positive"....

diskinr

I'm bothered that they did not disclose his hematocrit levels. If they were high surely they would have disclosed them to support the case that he was blood doping. Phonak has said that Tyler has requested the full results so this should be known eventually.

cerebus

Sorry for dragging up an old thread, but it looks like Tyler Hamilton has been dropped by Phonak.

Doesn't look good...

uberwolf

cerebus wrote:

Sorry for dragging up an old thread,

not at all.

Haven't read the article yet but had heard mutterings over the last while. Doesn't look good for him - after everything he did (collarbone, shoulder) I'd be disappointed if there was truth in this...

cerebus

uberwolf wrote:

not at all.

Haven't read the article yet but had heard mutterings over the last while. Doesn't look good for him - after everything he did (collarbone, shoulder) I'd be disappointed if there was truth in this...

I'm going to drag this up again as it looks like Hamilton has been suspended for 2 years by the USADA - the CAS/AAA hearing has upheld their decision.

He will be eligible to race again in 2007, and loses all results dating from his positive test - looks like he gets to keep his olympic gold medal though?

Disappointing is the word to use alright - silly really, but for some reason I always had him marked as one of the good guys.

Makes you wonder if anyone racing at that level is clean.