Ernesto/England: Mr Hamilton, It is time to be mature and honest about events. It is undeniably clear that you (and many others I am sure) cheated, and have been caught. David Millar has been honest and decent about his usage of EPO, has served his sentence, lost his Olympic medals and other results, and is now making a clean start. I, and many other clear-thinking Europeans would respect you a little more if you did the decent thing and put your hands up. Give that Olympic gold back (you escaped sanction on a technicality), clear your conscience, serve your ban and come back at whatever level you can manage clean.
Tyler: Dear Ernesto: I appreciate your thoughts and welcome the opportunity to reply. I am in agreement with you about David Millar. He is to be commended and forever respected for taking responsibility for his actions. I have long admired David and looks forward to his return to racing this summer. Media reports regarding my case, particularly in Europe, have done little to educate cycling fans and the general public about the case. I ask kindly that you consider the following facts from my defense:

1. People die from well matched transfusions in hospitals every day. If athletes were really engaging in this, wouldn't we hear more about athlete's dying?

2. If a well matched transfusion is taken into the body, and it doesn't kill you, make you sick with HIV, Hepatitis or give you a stroke - which are just some of the known risks, then you only stand to gain performance enhancing effects for about 5 days. On the flip side, you could potentially test positive for up to four months. What position would an athlete have to be in to justify this? And why would any athlete do this kind of thing in the middle of their season, one month before their objectives? I was accused of transfusing blood in June - 1 month prior to my main objective: the Tour de France.

3. If someone transfuses a unit of blood, and the test the anti doping authorities approved is run on that person's blood for the next four months, the data should show mixed populations starting at 10% early on that dwindle down over time for the same markers. In my case, I was tested in Athens on 8/20, in Spain on 9/2 and again in Spain on 9/11. Mixed populations in my test data do not match. The only explanations would be technical error or I am a genetic anomaly.

4. To complicate the situation and to make matters worse is that the Athens lab did not even type my blood correctly and generated test results that were biologically impossible and no one caught this during the Games. Again, the only explanations are technical error, terminal cancer or genetic anomaly

5. As for the Athens test being thrown out on a technicality - please consider this: the homologous blood transfusion test was approved for first time use in Athens under flexible accreditation from WADA. This means the lab director has to be comfortable with the method and take full responsibility for running it until it is approved by an independent body (like ISO). In Athens, the lab director was not willing to take this responsibility because he felt the test method was not properly validated. He reduced the test to a pilot project during the Games meaning - it wasn't even officially an anti doping test in Athens. The B sample was frozen because the A sample was initially declared Negative, and the test was not officially active. That decision was not reversed until nearly one month later by the lab officials who ran the tests from the Vuelta - who were looking for back up for their own result

6. Further examination of the Athens data revealed that the lab technicians had considerable problems with the test during the Games - my results were among at least 5 or 6 false positives at the Athens lab.

7. The HBT test was not properly validated because time, money and materials were at a shortage. This is all well documented in emails I received from the Athens lab. Instead of doing the proper work, the lab that ran the Vuelta test thought they could defend the validity of the method by charging a positive.

8. The UCI alleged that I transfused one unit of blood June 1st. They drew the Vuelta sample 103 days later and contended they found 1-1.9%% mixed populations in my blood. When you consider the metabolism of an elite endurance athlete and the fact that I suffered a massive crash in the Tour de France in July suffering massive hematomas to my lower back and internal bruising, it's really difficult to justify scientifically the appearance of 1% mixed populations in September. Especially under normal circumstances most medical experts state that a single unit of transfused blood is only visible for 90 days

9. The test used in my case is massively flawed, under validated, and was implemented in a way that is completely out of step with what it acceptable in the scientific community. The lab that charged me in September 2004 was not independently accredited to run flow cytometry (the method for this test) by the ISO until October of 2005 - 13 months later. What's more, the ISO told the lab they could not call the test a blood transfusion test, because the test cannot PROVE a blood transfusion has taken place

If I do not stand up to the system that developed and implemented this test and has gone on to charge me with an offense I did not commit, who will? The panels who adjudicate these cases are clearly afraid of WADA and of being stripped of their future arbitration duties if they do not defend the system. Look no further than the Zach Lund case if you think I'm exaggerating. CAS was convinced he was not a cheat - but suspended him for a year for taking prescription medication he had used for the last 6 years, and that he had notified USADA he was using the drug

I am not dishonest, and does not need to clear my conscience. I support anti doping and was a charter member of the USADA and UCI out of competition testing programs. I even helped organize and implement the UCI's program back in June of 2004. Interesting timing, don't you think? The exact date the UCI alleges I transfused. Does that sound like a man up to something?

As for coming back at "whatever level he can manage clean" - ask yourself what kind of a man could ride the Tour de France with a broken collar bone. The only way you can do something like that is if you have the fight in you to overcome the hand you've been dealt.

I hope that answers your questions but please do not hesitate to contact me again if you would like further conversation.

David/Palo Alto, CA: Is it just me, or does it seems as though this guestbook is just a little one-sided? Why don't you publish comments from "the other side" of the aisle of opinion?

From Tyler's Webmaster: On behalf of Tyler, Haven and the Board of THF, I would like to say thanks for your note on Tyler's guestbook. His personal website is a place for people who support him to express their feelings. There are plenty of other websites that publish one sided negative posts and we feel Tyler is entitled to some balance. Surely, if you were ever accused of something you didn't do, and were forced to endure what he has, you would appreciate the well wishes of others. Anyone who posts a negative message, and leaves a viable email address gets a response, and a chance to ask Tyler anything they'd like about him or his case. So should you have any other inquires, feel free to forward them along. We truly welcome the opportunity to respond. I would also like to note that the percentage of negative messages is quite small compared to the outpouring of supportive messages. We wish you the best of luck and again, please do not hesitate to contact me if you have additional questions you would like addressed by Tyler.

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