Final Hamilton hearing scheduled . . .

[BumbleBeeDave]

This story is from the Velo News web site reprinted from AFP.

Regardless of any personal feeling I might have on the subject, I'm not sure what to think of the extreme amount of time it's taking to get through the due process of all of this. I'm not aware of any other disciplinary hearings like this that have taken so long--over a year and a half from the start of the whole thing by the time they actually have the final(?) hearing on the appeal in January and--hopefully--finally render a decision.

Is the CAS delaying it? Is Hamilton delaying it? Does the delay indicate he has a better than or worse than case? And what about the CAS coming to Denver to hear the case? Not sure . . .

BBDave

________________________________

Final Hamilton hearing set for January
By Agence France Presse
This report filed November 21, 2005

Tyler Hamilton's fight to clear his name will enter its final round in January, nearly a year-and-a-half after he was found positive for injecting donor blood at the Vuelta a España.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced on Monday it would listen to closing arguments on January 10 in Denver. A final decision will be made at the end of the panel's deliberations, which may last a few weeks.

Hamilton has asked the CAS, world sport's top tribunal, to overturn a two-year ban imposed last year.

Hamilton tested positive for illicit blood transfusions during the Tour of Spain last September just weeks after winning an Olympic gold medal in Athens and the US anti-doping agency handed down a two-year suspension in April.

Hamilton had also tested positive for blood doping after winning gold at Athens but the B sample for that test was destroyed when it was frozen.

And the International Olympic Committee ruled it could not strip Hamilton of his medal without a B sample as a back-up test.

Blood doping is a banned means of enhancing endurance by increasing the amount of oxygen-carrying red blood cells using one's own blood or that of a donor of the same group.

Hamilton has argued that the test used to determine blood doping had yet to be proven in an anti-doping context, and was unreliable.

[MartyE]

There is a very good article over at Cyclingnews.com
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=features/2005/hamilton_appeal
which brings into focus why Hamilton was targetted by UCI/WADA.
The article is pretty damning if I read it correctly, and I doubt that
Tylers chimeric twin theory is going to work on this one.
Maybe Manzano wasn't just a malcontent.

marty

[Kevan]

to suspend the ban, having given the guy a 1.5 year slap, with the pretense of bureaucracy's slow wheel of justice, and possibly a chance for Hamilton to restore his career for the upcoming season.

Everyone wins, nothing's solved.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . the Cycling News story and now I'm more bumfoozled than ever! All the jargon--Yeeow!

I'm at the point where I have no real idea whether he did it or not. But either way, I still feel sorry for him having to try to formulate a defense by wading through all this medical gobbledeegook!

BBDave

[Kane]

I read the article and I have a minor understanding of physiology, but enough to know that Tyler is guilty.

I don't blame him or fault him for what I believe is a common widespread practice in the peloton. Bike racers have been cheating since the sixties and probably before. Is the penalty deserved? Yes. Is Hamilton a 'bad guy'? No.

Like Lance he has done a lot of charity work and like Lance there is a decent chance that he is a 'cheater'. Welcome to bike racing!!

Cheers,


Kane

[Tom]

Didn't another member of Hamilton's team get caught doing precisely the same thing at the same time? You think somebody switched bottles?

[MartyE]

kane

Cheating has been going on since long before the 60's

marty

[rpm]

Tyler would be wise to start training for another career. Given the boom in the Boulder area, I'm thinking selling real estate might be good. And Haven will probably need to go to work, too. I'm thinking advertising for her.

[jcar]

Tom,
I think you are onto something there. Santiago Perez was suspended for the same thing that Tyler was at about the same time. I've always thought that someone switched their blood bags.
Not that I'm up on Spanish cycling news but we don't hear too much about Santiago fighting his suspension like Tyler is.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . and suspended when the UCI moved up the date of his hearing without telling him until the last minute, giving him no time to prepare a defense. Regardless of what I think of Perez' guilt or innocence, he was screwed as far as a fair hearing and could do nothing about it because he did not have the financial resources or personal contacts Hamilton does.

BBDave

[Needs Help]

Here's a synopsis:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=features/2005/hamilton_appeal

...there is no way to manipulate your reticulocyte cells.

Everyone is genetically predetermined to have a certain amount of red cells. If, artificially, you boost your marrow to produce more red cells, your body will say, 'Okay, let's decrease our own production.' This means that first of all, you will decrease the number of reticulocytes that you produce; and secondly, because of the increased total amount of red cells, this will generate a very low percentage figure of reticulocytes.

His reticulocyte reading was also 0.22 percent,... his reticulocyte levels were well below normal. In haematology circles, the association of normal or high haemoglobin and very low reticulocytes is unknown - unless it is the beginning of a severe medical condition.

When asked to pay a visit to the UCI, Hamilton claimed to have a medical condition, but according to our source, he never stated what that condition was. And to date, no known medical condition shows symptoms of a very low reticulocyte levels and a high haemoglobin. Said the UCI source: "To my knowledge, there are no natural reasons to have very low reticulocytes."

What is common knowledge, however, is any form of artificial blood boosting - be it via EPO, NESP or blood transfusion (homologous or otherwise) has a negative effect on the level of reticulocytes.

[oldguy00]

I read the article and I have a minor understanding of physiology, but enough to know that Tyler is guilty.

I don't blame him or fault him for what I believe is a common widespread practice in the peloton. Bike racers have been cheating since the sixties and probably before. Is the penalty deserved? Yes. Is Hamilton a 'bad guy'? No.

Like Lance he has done a lot of charity work and like Lance there is a decent chance that he is a 'cheater'. Welcome to bike racing!!

Cheers,


Kane

exactly

[SGP]

Tyler would be wise to start training for another career. Given the boom in the Boulder area, I'm thinking selling real estate might be good. And Haven will probably need to go to work, too. I'm thinking advertising for her.

They should open a kennel and breed dogs.
;)

[BdaGhisallo]

I think we can all agree, whether we feel TH is guilty or not, that the process has been abusive in its handling of the matter. Even if he is found innocent in his final CAS appeal, he will essentially have served 3/4 of the suspension. That is no justice. In that case he should be able to sue the UCI et al for defamation and loss of income and such.

All of these regulatory bodies want to run these sports under the rule of law and in a manner akin to the civil justice system. If that is so, they fall woefully short in the manner in which they tread on the due process rights/ privileges due the accused. 'A' tests getting leaked before confirmed 'B' tests and leaks and innuendo about athletes that have not failed any tests are not the way a reputable regulator runs things.

I find it attrocious how **** Pound, from his WADA soapbox, can sound off and accuse athletes of this and that with absolutely nothing to back up his accusations. Unsubstantiated rumours do not help matters.

Now I know that professional sport is riddled with cheating and abuse of all sorts. I am not naive enough to think that every athlete is pure and driven only by the quest for glory and athletic accomplishment. However, not all of them are crooked either.

The authorities are trying to clean up sports and that is admirable ( though possibly futile) but it must be done in a manner that is beyond reproach. Due process must be upheld and their own damn rules should be adhered to. Only if they do things properly and legitimately do they have any hope of achieving their goals.

[CNY rider]

What is common knowledge, however, is any form of artificial blood boosting - be it via EPO, NESP or blood transfusion (homologous or otherwise) has a negative effect on the level of reticulocytes.


This statement is completely false. EPO drives red blood cell production by the bone marrow. Reticulocytes are elevated in someone injecting EPO. This complete misstatement casts the rest of this article into doubt.

[BBB]

[QUOTE=BdaGhisallo]I think we can all agree, whether we feel TH is guilty or not, that the process has been abusive in its handling of the matter. Even if he is found innocent in his final CAS appeal, he will essentially have served 3/4 of the suspension. That is no justice. In that case he should be able to sue the UCI et al for defamation and loss of income and such.

This is not entirely correct. The process through an initial hearing and then an appeal before CAS has taken much longer than expected. However, part of the reason for delay has been to enable considerable medical evidence to be collated. Hamilton himself requested that the initial hearing be delayed to enable him to gather sufficient evidence. The appeal before CAS has been part-heard and adjourned, by consent, to enable the parties to present further evidence and present closing arguments. If it was simply a case of the USADA trying to delay the matter, then I doubt both the AAA (who heard the matter at first instance) and CAS would have stood for it, while Hamilton's lawyers would have been complaining bitterly.

I agree however, that some officials have attempted to pre-judge the matter, which is unfair to the athlete. This was commented upon by the dissenting arbitrator in his reasons for decision.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . in my own mind is what Ghisallo said--the various governmental bodies of the sport have been abusive in Hamilton’s case of whatever “due process” they claim to be giving accused athletes. And Tyler’s case is not the only example.

I’m fully resigned now to the possibility that Tyler really did do it, but still adhere to what Kane said, namely that this doesn’t necessarily make him an evil person. The older I get, the more I understand the fact that NO ONE, even those we hold in the highest esteem, is immune from the frailties that every human has, be they phyisical, mental, or emotional. It also makes me appreciate it when I see someone who really, truly, does seem to have transcended thos frailties. Mother Theresa coimes to mind.

But I’ve also reached the point where I’m disgusted by, and ashamed of, the hypocrisy and cynicism that seem to have come to characterize the authorities who are supposed to be cleaning up the sport and monitor its ethnics in a fair, reasonable way. The headlong haste that the UCI has engaged in by initiating tests that have not been proven to be reliable is one example. The ridiculous grandstanding of Mr. Pound and his shotgun approach to making unsubstantiated accusations is another. His behavior totally emasculates whatever effectiveness WADA has.

Regardless of the outcome of Tyler’s case, he’s already served a year’s suspension. Ridiculous . . .

BBDave

[BarryG]

This statement is completely false. EPO drives red blood cell production by the bone marrow. Reticulocytes are elevated in someone injecting EPO. This complete misstatement casts the rest of this article into doubt.
Yes. I believe the author failed to make (i.e., didn't understand) the distinction between the effects of EPO and blood-doping on reticulocyte count. EPO boosts reticulocytes and blood-doping suppresses them. So if they're screening for low reticulocyte counts, they're screening for blood-dopers and not EPO-users.