American cyclist Tyler Hamilton, age 38, announces his retirement from professional cycling on Apr. 17, 2009 after testing positive for a steroid called DHEA. Hamilton admitted he was aware that DHEA was in an herbal medicine he took to combat depression. On June 16, 2009, he receives an eight-year ban that the CEO of USADA, Travis Tygart, classifies as “an assurance that he is penalized for what would have been the remainder of his competitive cycling career.”
Hamilton was accused of using blood transfusions, human growth hormones, testosterone, EPO, and insulin after failing drug tests earlier in his career. During the 2000 Athens Olympics, where Hamilton won a gold medal, his A sample showed signs of blood doping. The B sample was mistakenly frozen so that it could not be tested, so Hamilton was allowed to keep his gold medal. He tested positive again one month after the Olympics and was banned for two years.