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Deccan Herald » Sports » Detailed Story
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Olympic champ Hamilton banned
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Olympic time trial gold medallist Tyler Hamilton has been banned for two years after testing positive for a blood transfusion, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has announced, Reuters reports from Toronto.
Hamilton, who received the maximum ban for a first-time doping offence, has 20 days in which to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland. The American cyclist tested positive at the Tour of Spain last September and all his results since then are forfeited. It is the first time USADA has suspended an athlete for the presence of transfused blood.
Hamilton had been under a cloud of doping suspicion since the Athens Olympics, where he tested positive for a blood transfusion on August 18. However, Hamilton was allowed to keep his gold medal when a second, or 'B', test was 'non-conclusive' because it had been destroyed by being deep-frozen.
Following the Olympics, Hamilton again found himself at the centre of a doping storm when he gave a positive test for a blood transfusion after his Tour of Spain time trial victory.
Blood transfusions are considered a form of blood-doping under the World Anti-Doping Code because it allows an athlete to increase their oxygen rich red blood cells, improving their aerobic power and endurance.
Hamilton has always denied ever using any form of performance-enhancing drugs. ''The day they told me I had tested positive for the banned performance-enhancing method of homologous blood transfusing I threw forward my arm and said -- ''It's a mistake,'' said Hamilton on his website. ''Take another sample.''
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Wednesday, April 20, 2005
