— Note: This rant has been updated, after some factual errors were pointed out by TBV. —
I’ll take “American Sports Scandals” for $1000, Alex.
Question: Name the American cyclist currently serving a suspension who is being investigated for the another offense and could face a lifetime ban from the sport.
Answer: Who is Tyler Hamilton?
If you haven’t already heard, the UCI has asked USA Cycling and USADA to begin disciplinary action against Tyler Hamilton in connection with Spain’s Operation Puerto investigation.
I don’t know whether Hamilton was guilty or not of blood doping back in 2004. He says not, but he lost when his case went to arbitration. Perhaps his attorneys made some mistakes in how they fought the charges. Then again, perhaps he’s really guilty. Whatever the case, the “fetal twin” defense is going to go down in sports history the way the infamous “Twinkie” defense went down in legal history.
What appears to be happening is that the UCI believes Hamilton worked with or was a patient of Eufemiano Fuentes, the doctor at the heart of the Operation Puerto scandal. Now, whatever evidence they have of wrong-doing on Hamilton’s part would have to date back to 2004 or earlier, as he’s not been doing much in the racing world since then. If he really was guilty of blood doping back then, someone probably helped him. Perhaps Dr. Fuentes?
I haven’t seen the list of offenses that the UCI alleges were committed. Some (or maybe all) are said to date back to 2003, when Hamilton was on Team CSC. Perhaps they’re also going after him for more blood doping allegations, as well. (However, that’s pure speculation on my part.)
If they’re going after you for more blood doping allegations (or even the same ones), Tyler, now would be a good time to `fess up. If Frankie can do it when he has nothing to gain, you can, too. And you still have the possibility of racing again if you can ever get this doping monkey off your back.
Now, I know on Planet UCI and Planet WADA that there’s certain people who will keep trying and keep attacking and keep pursuing someone until these people get the result they want. So it would be no surprise if these individuals were going after Hamilton a second (or third or fourth) time to get him banned from the sport. After all, if someone cheated once, they’ll cheat again. Right?
Letting a cheater back into the sport — or at least someone convicted of cheating but who still denies it — wouldn’t be something these folks would want to do. If they can find a way of getting such a person (read: Hamilton) banned, they’ll do it.
David Millar is a different story for them, because he “admitted” to his sin. Or maybe he just said the words they told him to say, knowing full well that if he didn’t he’d never race again. I don’t know, but it would be hard to blame him for caving in to such pressure.
I don’t know whether Hamilton was guilty or not the first time. But what’s happening to him now seems over the top. Working with someone who’s helped others cheat doesn’t automatically make you a cheater, even if some would like to believe so. Lance Armstrong worked with Dr. Michele Ferrari, who was convicted of helping certain individuals cheat, but that doesn’t make Armstrong a cheater.
And perhaps that’s the case with Hamilton as well.
Rant, as I understand it, he is being suspended for violations during 2004. The charges arising from Op Puerto would be for different violations in 2003, when still with CSC. Given the scope of the program that is alleged to have been Hamilton’s, it is also involving very different things than the blood transfusion of the next year.
It’s hard for me to see the 2003 and 2004 events as the ‘same’ case for purposes of sanction, so I’m not sure where double jeopardy comes into play. Yeah, I think it sucks to be Tyler having to deal with it on top of the other one.
We should note that at present, we are given to believe there is only one piece of evidence connectiong Fuente’s to Hamilton, a FAX suspected to be addressed to Hamilton’s wife Haven. The veracity of this connection has not been publicly established, or challenged.
TBV
TBV,
Thanks for pointing that out. I’ve been unclear on exactly what violations were uncovered by Operation Puerto. I stand corrected.
Rant
Guys, You may be right and not right. The files in Operation Puerto lead up to the schedule of “rider 4142” in 2003 through 2004. What broke the code is Tyler’s race schedule in 2004 vs rider 4142’s schedule. I think it would be a stretch to say that they would pick an event out of a contiuum of racing to punish. That’s almost like punishing David Millar for the bust of drugs in his room and three additional times for the three events he admitted doping.
Thoughts?
Jim,
Thanks for the additional info. When I first heard the story on CNN International, I just had this gut feeling that Tyler Hamilton is getting the shaft. That certain forces are just plain out to get him.
I have to say, though, that the original post was written this morning, before I’d had any time to really research and get the background on Hamilton’s first doping offense and the Operation Puerto allegations. This time around, it seems, they’re not letting as much out. Or perhaps I’m just looking in the wrong places. Shame on me for writing before I knew what I was talking about (though that doesn’t stop some of the highly paid blow-hards on cable or in various newspapers from spouting off utter nonsense).
After reading the CAS arbitration decision, the evidence against Hamilton from 2004 seems pretty damning. Especially the part about UCI officials sitting him down and warning him that they were getting some abnormal readings on his blood samples which seemed to suggest blood doping before the HBT test was implemented. They warned him they’d be watching him closely.
No surprise then that they eventually got an A and B sample that showed evidence of blood doping at the Vuelta. Whether Hamilton was guilty or not, something was definitely amiss. I’m a bit baffled as to why his attorney didn’t jump all over that and try to show that Hamilton is, in fact, a person who consistently shows a false positive on the HBT test. Or maybe he did and lost that point.
It wouldn’t surprise me terribly if this Operation Puerto investigation covers some of the same ground as the allegations against Hamilton in the 2004 Vuelta. And if so, there could be a double-jeopardy aspect to that, I suppose.
As I’ve said, and others too, it would be better to focus on the current players than to keep mining events of the past, where enforcement is concerned. It’s the people who are still doping and still competing, along with the people who supply them that need to be caught. Hamilton is almost done serving his time. To keep going after him seems just plain mean — as well as a waste of time and resources — when there’s other people who need to be found and dealt with.
Whatever the truth of the matter is, Tyler Hamilton has surely learned his lesson by now. It would take real chutzpah to go back to the Pro Tour and continue doping after having been busted and sitting out for two years.
When I made my edits, it occurred to me that maybe I should cross the comments I deleted out, rather than delete them. Perhaps that’s what I’ll do next time.
– Rant