Posted on 09/23/2004 9:15:06 AM PDT by gopwinsin04
The Phonak cycling team has revealed that a 'B' sample from Olympic gold medal cycling champion Tyler Hamilton had tested positive.
Phonak confirmed the second sample of a test taken during the Tour of Spain had failed doping regulations.
The team said it was still waiting for the B sample results from the Olympic Games in Athens, and believed it would be negative.
Phonak said it was setting up a scientific panel to investigate the tests and said they would not sack Hamilton until 'clarity' was achieved.
Hamilton is the first person to be found to have tested positive for blood doping-when athletes inject blood from another person in order to increase their red blood cells and improve stamina.
The positive test was conducted by cycling's governing body, the UCI, after Hamilton won the tour's 8th stage, a time trial on 11 September.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Doping in cycling ws first caught in 1896 but I'd really like to know how the test works. Too much hemaglobin ala EPO or is there a way to get DNA from the second person from the bloodsample? Anyone know how the UCI does this?
I had hoped that the US Cyclists had learned their lession with blood boosting after the 1984 Olympics. Sighhhhhhhh
I think they may be referring to the new testing procedure..
If your red cell count falls outside the "acceptable" range, it is assumed you are on EPO. There is no actual test being used that dtects EPO. Is this fair? Hell, I don'tknow. I do know that some people have higher red counts than others.
I just did some checking. It sounds like Tyler's inconsisties bear the marks of one who has hada massive blood transfusion. In other words, his current blood samples look distinctly different from his normal samples. This is not neccesarily evidence of doping.
He's definitely guilty. I heard they found blood in his blood.
Hence the investigation, im still not ready to declare this test definitive..
That's how crazy this stuff is, the Euros will latch on to this with crazy conspiracy theories for years..
There are a few suspicious things going on, though. For one, Tyler angrily denounced Prentice Steffen who outed he along with Armstrong and US postal as perpetrators of an elaborate doping scheme. Tyler initially helped Armstrong's case, in my estimation, because he is widely looked upon as the most positive face in the peloton. But this scandal causes us to look at all of the accusations against all current and formal posties and question his eagrness to pounce on Steffen.
Compounding this is the notable attrition rate among posties at the Vuelta since revelations about Tyer's blood tests came out. I'm worried that postal is dirtier than we think or want to believe.
I hate the thought of this.
* * * *
Sydney test hauls in its first victim
By Jenny McAsey
The Australian News
September 23, 2004
ANOTHER door has slammed shut on sport's drug cheats.
A doping test developed by Sydney-based researchers and introduced secretly during the Athens Olympics has produced evidence that gold medal-winning cyclist Tyler Hamilton had had an illegal blood transfusion.
If the case is confirmed, it will mark the first time sporting authorities have officially detected blood doping.
The practice has been used for more than three decades to boostperformance in endurance events such as cycling and distance running.
"We've closed another avenue for athletes to dope," said Dr Michael Ashenden, the co-ordinator of the Australian consortium that developed the blood doping test.
"Sooner or later they will get the message that when we say we are going to bring in new tests and keep samples and analyse them, it will get through and that has to be good news for the clean athletes. If this marks the day where that really began to sink in, that is a positive."
Hamilton, a 33-year-old American who won the Olympic time trial race in Athens, reportedly has been notified by the International Olympic Committee and international cycling officials that two separate tests showed evidence he had received a transfusion of blood that wasn't his own.
One test was conducted on August 19, the day after his Olympic victory, while the second was done at the Tour of Spain where Hamilton won a stage two weeks ago.
Hamilton yesterday held a news conference in his home base of Switzerland to vigorously dispute the results.
He said he was "100 per cent innocent". His 'B' blood samples have not yet confirmed the result.
Hamilton could lose his Olympic gold medal and face a two-year ban if his B sample from Athens tests positive.
Australia's Michael Rogers, who was fourth in the time trial, would be given the bronze medal.
The world-first blood doping test used at the Olympics was developed by Margaret Nelson at Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital over the past two years.
While Hamilton's supporters yesterday questioned the validity of the new test, Ashenden, who oversaw the research, said it was very reliable.
"The test has been used for a decade in hospitals to detect feto-maternal haemorrhage - if they get it wrong it is a life or death situation," Ashenden said yesterday.
"They don't get it wrong; the test works.
"If the sample shows positive then that person has someone else's blood in their circulation, there is no question, there is no doubt, there is no grey area."
Before the Olympics, the World Anti-Doping Agency and the IOC came to an agreement with RPA Hospital to implement the test.
While WADA head Dick Pound had warned athletes new tests would be introduced at the Olympics, he didn't say which ones.
"That test wasn't announced quite deliberately," Ashenden said.
He said the Australian researchers were proud to have played a part in stopping what was "a terrible practice" among athletes.
"It is life threatening," Ashenden said. "In a hospital setting doctors won't give a transfusion unless they absolutely have to because of the inevitable risk, and for an athlete to be doing that in a hotel room without any genuine reason is ludicrous."
The doping method involves an athlete injecting a quantity of blood from another person with the same blood type.
The result is a boost to the red blood cell count, which increases the body's oxygen-carrying capacity, and thus endurance.
The head of the Australian Sports Drug Agency, John Mendoza, said it gave unethical athletes a clear advantage.
"The increases that can occur from boosting one's red blood cell count can be up to 15 per cent in terms of endurance capacity," Mendoza said. "It is highly dangerous. It increases the risk of stroke dramatically."
Blood doping is thought to have begun in the 1960s when athletes withdrew some of their own blood, stored it and re-injected before competition when their body had already replaced the missing blood.
At the 1972 and 1976 Olympics Finnish distance runner Lasse Viren won the 5000m and 10,000m track events. He was accused of pioneering blood doping, which became illegal in 1986.
In the 1990s erythpoietin, or EPO, took over as the doping method of choice for endurance athletes. It had the same effect as transfusion but was simpler and cleaner to use.
But Mendoza said blood doping had come back into vogue after a test for EPO was introduced at the Sydney Olympics.
There is still no test for transfusion using an athlete's own blood (which is not as common), but Ashenden said more research was underway.
"In 18 to 24 months I hope we will be in a position to detect where an athlete blood dopes with anything at all, and that will be a very important day for sport."
ping!
Another setback for the national BALCO States of America team! Bummer.
Those in the know say that Tyler is about the least-likely guy to do something illegal.
There seem to be some questions about the test -- a new test that supposedly relies a bit more on 'interpretation' as opposed to more objective results.
un ping
Blood in his blood is always the first sign. What a shame.
I read that, and if it's an accurate representation of the test, it doesn't look good for Tyler. Apparently, under ultraviolet light, these different sub-types of red blood cells either fluoresce or not. If all red blood cells fluoresce, then it's one person's blood. If some cells fluoresce and some don't, then two people's blood. With 12 sub-types of blood, the article said the chances of 2 people having all the same types was something like one in a million.
There is no actual test being used that dtects EPO.
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