Blood Doping - Notable Blood Doping Cases

Notable Blood Doping Cases

Blood doping probably started in the 1970s but was not outlawed until 1986. While it was still legal, it was commonly used by middle and long-distance runners. The first known case of blood doping occurred at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow as Kaarlo Maaninka was transfused with two pints of blood before winning medals in the 5 and 10 kilometer track races though not against the rules at the time. The American cyclist Pat McDonough admitted to blood doping at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Following the 1984 Summer games it was revealed that one-third of the U.S. cycling team had received blood transfusions before the games, where they won nine medals, their first medal success since the 1912 Summer Olympics. "Blood doping" was banned by the IOC in 1985, though no test existed for it at the time.

The Swedish cyclist Niklas Axelsson tested positive for EPO in 2000. The American cyclist Tyler Hamilton failed a fluorescent-activated cell sorting test for detecting homologous blood transfusions during the 2004 Olympics. He was allowed to keep his gold medal because the processing of his sample precluded conducting a second, confirmatory test. He appealed a second positive test for homologous transfusion from the 2004 Vuelta a España to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport but his appeal was denied. Hamilton's lawyers proposed Hamilton may be a genetic chimera or have had a 'vanishing twin' to explain the presence of red blood cells from more than one person. While theoretically possible, these explanations were ruled to be of "negligible probability".

The Operación Puerto case in 2006 involved allegations of doping and blood doping of hundreds of athletes in Spain.

Tour de France rider Alexander Vinokourov, of the Astana Team, tested positive for two different blood cell populations and thus for homologous transfusion, according to various news reports on July 24, 2007. Vinokourov was tested after his victory in the 13th stage time trial of the Tour on July 21, 2007. A doping test is not considered to be positive until a second sample is tested to confirm the first. Vinokourov's B sample has now tested positive, and he faces a possible suspension of 2 years and a fine equal to one year's salary. He also tested positive after stage 15.

Vinokourov's teammate Andrej Kashechkin also tested positive for homologous blood doping on August 1, 2007, just a few days after the conclusion of the 2007 Tour de France (a race that had been dominated by doping scandals). His team withdrew after the revelation that Vinokourov had doped.

According to Russian investigators, 19-year-old New York Rangers prospect and Russian hockey player Alexei Cherepanov was engaged in blood doping for several months before he died on October 13, 2008, after collapsing on the bench during a game in Russia. He also had myocarditis.

The German speed skater and five-fold Olympic gold medalist Claudia Pechstein was banned for two years in 2009 for alleged blood doping, based on irregular levels of reticulocytes in her blood; these levels were always highest during competitions. Her mean reticulocyte count over the ten years from 2000 to 2009 was 2.1% during top events like Olympic Games and during world championships. At world cup races the mean reticulocyte was 1.9% and during training phases 2.0%. The Court of Arbitration for Sport confirmed the ban in November 2009.

On May 20, 2011 Tyler Hamilton turned in his 2004 Olympic Gold Medal to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency after admitting to doping in a 60 Minutes interview.

On August 23, 2012 Lance Armstrong, one of the most well-known and accomplished athletes in history, while still proclaiming his innocence, elected to discontinue defending against doping charges by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). As a result, he was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life by cycling's governing body following a report from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that accused him of leading a massive doping program on his teams.