Cyclist Tyler Hamilton Suspended for Blood Doping

[Desnudo]

Two years. In other cycling news, apparently Lance Armstrong is going to retire after this year's Tour de France.

Hamilton

[rkmsuf]

An arbitration panel is expected to announce its decision Monday, one that could all but end the 34-year-old Hamilton's career, or clear him to resume riding in the world's top cycling events.The complex case stands at the intersection of sport, science and law. A theme central to Hamilton's defense is the notion of a "vanishing twin" who shared the womb when Hamilton was a fetus — a point on which there is much speculation but no proof.

I like the vanishing twin defense. Very original.

[Ragone]

Originally Posted by rkmsuf

I like the vanishing twin defense. Very original.

Its like the Chewbacca defense.. only less viable

[miked]

I like how he continues to deny doping despite having a handful of tests return positive. Some of the samples were re-tested by other labs and the findings were upheld. Good riddance.

[Ragone]

As strict as lance armstrong says the testing is in cycling.. i'm surprised more people aren't caught

[weinstein7]

Bumpy mcbump:

Might ol' Tyler be innocent after all?

hxxp://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/10/health/10bloo.html

Registration is required, but the gist of it is that there are some scientists (apparently reputable ones), who think that the blood doping test is worthless, because it could pick up false-positives from "chimeras." A chimera happens when twins are conceived, but one of the twins dies in utero and some of his blood makes it over to the surviving fetus. This would then create a situation in which a person had two different kinds of red blood cells, which would show up as a positive on a blood doping test. This was thought to be extremely rare, but according to some doctor at the Mayo Clinic, this was because nobody was ever looking for it, and now they're starting to believe that it's actually relatively common.

disclaimer: I know nothing at all about this, just summarizing the article as best I understood it.

edit: it seems insane to hxxp the times, but better safe than sorry i guess.

[k0ruptr]

bugmenot rocks. interesting read