3. The Evil Blood-Doping Twin
In a bad horror movie, the murderous villain might be controlled by his evil twin, who died in the womb. In a bad blood-doping excuse, the accused cyclist claims his stillborn twin was the reason for a positive test for homologous blood transfusion.
That cyclist was Tyler Hamilton, who tested positive for blood doping in 2004. Without getting overly technical, the lab tests showed a mixed red-blood-cell population. Among other explanations given for the positive result was that the test may have been positive due to intrauterine twin-twin transfusion or chimerism (someone with a natural mixed red-blood-cell population).
The argument that Hamilton had a twin in the womb who vanished in the first trimester was ultimately ruled out, as he did not have mixed red-blood-cell populations on multiple prior blood tests. This left only the possibility that he was a chimera, which was ruled highly unlikely, given the data. As a result, Hamilton was suspended for two years.
In 2009, Hamilton tested positive for a banned steroid, DHEA. No vanishing twins were blamed this time. Hamilton said he was taking the drug as an anti-depressant, and he retired from cycling.
Top 10 Excuses for Positive Drug Tests
