Cycling
Hamilton retains gold

By Seattle Times news services

ERIC RISBERG / AP American cyclist Tyler Hamilton won the men 's individual time trial at the Athens Games last month and continues to assert his innocence against doping charges.

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LONDON — American cyclist Tyler Hamilton can keep his Olympic gold medal, but his reputation and the balance of his career are in serious jeopardy.

More than a month after Hamilton's initial blood sample indicated he had received a prohibited transfusion, the International Olympic Committee announced yesterday that testing on the backup, or B sample, could not be performed because the sample was stored improperly. The B sample was deep-frozen, corrupting the red blood cells.

Dr. Arne Ljungqvist, chairman of the IOC medical committee, said "human error" was responsible for the mistake, which he blamed partly on the workload at the Athens Olympics.

"Legally, such a case will be deemed negative," Ljungqvist said.

Under international regulations, Hamilton's Aug. 18 victory in the time-trial event will stand and the IOC will drop its investigation. But Phonak, Hamilton's Swiss team, announced that both blood samples taken from Hamilton at the Spanish Vuelta on Sept. 11 came back positive, triggering a process that could end with a two-year suspension from competition.

Hamilton, 33, from Marblehead, Mass., already has been suspended by Phonak. At his age, a two-year layoff could cripple a career that has been one of the most successful and dramatic in U.S. cycling annals.

Phonak broke the news on its Web site, pre-empting international authorities. The hearing-aid company, which began sponsoring the team this year, said it would convene a panel of unnamed scientists to review the testing procedure.

Hamilton continued to assert his innocence in a statement on the Phonak Web site.

"I guarantee that I represented the United States of America as an honest, clean and proud athlete," the statement said.

The last American to lose an Olympic gold medal for a drug violation was Jerome Young of the 1,600-meter relay team in 2000. He tested positive for the steroid nandrolone in 1999 and was stripped of his gold medal from the team, which included Michael Johnson.
 
It's up to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and the International Cycling Union to decide whether to take action against Hamilton for the positive tests in Spain. A cycling spokesman said the federation would not comment until USADA had dealt with the case. The U.S. body, which handles cases involving American athletes, has 30 days to review the case and deliver its findings to the federation.

Company withholds bonus of $5 million to Armstrong

DALLAS — The company that owes Lance Armstrong $5 million for winning a record sixth straight Tour de France is withholding payment of the bonus, citing allegations in a French book that he used performance-enhancing drugs.

SCA Promotions points to doping allegations contained in "L.A. Confidential, the Secrets of Lance Armstrong," published in June by La Martiniere. Armstrong has denounced the book's claims as "absolutely untrue" and launched defamation lawsuits against the publisher and authors.

Chris Compton, an attorney for SCA, said the company wants to see Armstrong's medical records before releasing the money.

"We've requested (drug) test results to disprove the allegations — clean test results that should be easily attainable," Compton said. "We're not planning on releasing them to the media or doing anything other than verifying that they exist."

Armstrong's U.S. Postal Cycling Team filed a lawsuit this month in state court in Dallas, claiming SCA didn't have the right to question Armstrong's Tour victories, which were upheld by cycling authorities.

The team, jointly owned and managed by Tailwind Sports and Capital Sports and Entertainment, hopes to resolve the dispute through arbitration.

The book, written by David Walsh and Pierre Ballester, relies in part on allegations by a former Armstrong assistant, Emma O'Reilly.

In it, she claims Armstrong once asked her to get rid of syringes and give him makeup to conceal needle marks on his right arm. She acknowledged that she didn't know what was in the syringes.

Notes

• Germany's Jan Ullrich won the Coppa Sabatini race in Peccioli, Italy, confirming his status as a top contender at the world championships in Verona next week.

• Spain's Javier Pascual Rodriguez edged Colombia's Ivan Parra at the finish to win the 18th stage of the Spanish Vuelta, his fourth victory of the race. Defending champion Roberto Heras of Spain kept the overall lead by 1 minute, 13 seconds.