Tyler Hamilton, my vote is for a lifetime ban

April

Just read a column by Associated Press writer John Leicster and one of his items stood out.

By JOHN LEICESTER
AP Sports Columnist
Good riddance Tyler Hamilton. Lance Armstrong’s former teammate is gone from cycling after testing positive for the banned steroid dehydroepiandrosterone.

Hamilton said he knowingly took the steroid in an herbal remedy for depression. He said the debilitating illness runs in his family. If that’s true, one sympathizes. But once a cheat, always a cheat? Announcing the positive test, Hamilton missed an opportunity to come clean about other alleged doping skeletons in his closet.

Hamilton was suspected at the 2004 Olympics of ghoulishly injecting himself with someone else’s blood. He escaped on a technicality and declared himself “100 percent innocent,” but failed another test a month later.

Now would have been the time to fully confess. When, where, how, with whom did he dope in the past? Are those who injected him still in cycling? Does he know other riders who cheated? By answering such questions, Hamilton might have been remembered for a measure of courage as well as for the damage he did to his sport.

John, I have to agree with you, good riddance. I have no room for Hamilton at this point. He did some amazing things on a bike. Finishing the 2003 Tour de France with a broken collarbone was one of them. But I cannot believe anything he says or champion anything he has done at this point. I also look forward to the sanctions cycling governing body will place on him. He cannot just retire and walk away to find his way back into the sport. He must serve his time and if you ask me it should be a lifetime ban. His record should not allow him to teach and work with young up and coming cyclists. He should not be allowed to manage a team or riders. He can lead tours and group rides of the few fans that still believe in him, that’s about it.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 at 3:56 PM by Randall Wolf. Print This Post | Email This Post

One Response to “Tyler Hamilton, my vote is for a lifetime ban”

Ben April 30th, 2009 at 10:16 AM
...He said the debilitating illness runs in his family. If that’s true, ...

Why didn’t he seek medical assistance rather than (presumably) self medicate on a questionable remedy that he knew containted a banned substance?

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