Tyler Hamilton, a well renowned cyclist, an Olympic champion and an heir to Lance Armstrong’s throne, decided to end his career after having been found positive for steroids. According to Hamilton, he used an herbal product for only two days in February in order to combat his depression while being aware that the product contained a kind of steroid.

In an interview by The Associated Press Hamilton said, “There’s nothing to fight about, I took a banned substance. I accept the consequences. You make mistakes in your life and I accept the penalty like a man”. Reports said the U.S Anti-Doping Agency ordered Hamilton to be banned from eight years to life from racing. The sentence would have ended his career in racing anyway.

During the win of Hamilton in the 2004 Athens Games, he was accused of a blood doping scandal that overshadowed his win. For the second time later that year, he was positive for blood doping. Because of that he was given a two-year suspension. In early 2007, he came back to racing without revealing that he was having problems with depression that he said was running in his family. Later, he went through a divorce with his wife and his mother suffered from breast cancer. These incidents were believed to make things harder for Hamilton. He said he sought for relief by taking Miltamins Advanced Formula which is a natural depression treatment made from vitamin, herbs and supplements that happened to have certain types of steroids. It contained vitamins D, B-6 and B-12 with riboflavin, thiamine, calcium and contained 20 milligrams of Dehydropiandrosterone –DHEA. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said they will continue to process the issuing of sanction to the manufacturer of the product.

Hamilton admitted that he took the steroids only to make his mental health better. He even said that “I did not, 100 percent, take it for any performance enhancement.” According to him, he was under medication and was using antidepressant called Celexa. He didn’t feel any better so he doubled the dosage. With still no significant change he stopped the drugs and tried Miltamins on Feb. 6 and 7. He even said that at first he thought the he wasn’t in that much trouble until he realized that he really is in a big trouble.

During the race in Vuelta of Castilla and Leon in Spain, Hamilton did not race citing bronchitis as the reason. In the Rock Racing’s team in Portugal, Hamilton was expected to lead the race. Unfortunately, he was replaced before the said event. According to Hamilton’s attorney, Chris Manderson, “Tyler has decided he does not want to pursue that route. He wants to focus on the reasons why he did and he wants to focus on getting better and getting on with his life”.

In the statement issued by the USADA, they said that final announcements shall be made about the outcome and the exact sanction of Hamilton in compliance with the rules after the process is complete which will be released in a few months

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