Depression - more like cold turkey.

His depression was probably brought on by his­ underlying feelings of guilt knowing that he was a­ cheat & a liar & knowing that his many fans (me­ included) thought he was an honest clean rider.

8 years is too much no?

Let's not forget that doping or no doping, the man­ still came in 5th in the TDF with a broken collar bone.­ Doping aside, that takes guts.

Blah Blah Blah he already retired USADA snooze you­ lose.

too little too late, if they had given him an 8 year­ ban 5 years ago we wouldn't have to tolerate­ reading about this @#$% now

and this is "news" because? We just cannot­ seem to stop glorifying these @$$holes with our­ attention, (me included)

c'mon guys... he's lying... AGAIN!! stop being­ such suckers for the BS!

if he was legit depressed­ and wanted meds for it he could have gone to a doctor­ at any drop-in clinic and got meds and the UCI would­ have not banned him... he might have even got meds that­ didn't contain any banned substance.

he has some­ of the stupidest, nonsensical excuses for using dope...­ this one makes about as much sense as the vanishing­ twin excuse from the last time around..

as P.T Barnum­ said... there's a sucker born every minute... and­ it seems a lot of them frequent this board.

@dellortodavide - c'mon, making the racing shorter­ does nothing to reduce cheating, shorter races are just­ ridden faster.. and people will still dope.

do people­ take dope for the shortest events... 60m, 100m in track­ and field.. HELL YES!! some of the biggest­ violators... this distance, number of days changes­ nothing.

it is known that when a rider is sick and the Docter­ can justify given him a medication that contain banned­ substance that the Rider wil NOT be banned and will be­ allowd to take his medication....the think is that­ Hamilton could not and can not justify taking what he­ call medication against depression...in fact there is a­ lot of medications against depression that not contain­ any banned subctance.
to me he is a disgrace to cylcing­ trying to aproche cylinig supporters as riduculous­ peoples..h's A sample tested positif in olympic­ gams but he have the honor to keep the medal..maybe­ this is the reason why he become depressif!!

He should never be banned. It was his twin what done­ it!

I've always liked Tyler, and I'm sad to see his­ career come to an ignominious end. I don't like the­ fact that cyclists feel they need and/or want to dope­ to be competitive, but it's just human nature. I­ hope he can find some peace, and a meaningful way to­ give back to cycling eventually.

I find the sudden enthusiasm for outrightly condeming­ guys for taking drugs to be somewhat hypocritical.­ Speeds in racing are much faster than in my days racing­ in Italy, and the calendar longer with commercial­ pressures unfair. If one looked at the past records of­ the TDF, TDI, and the TDS, and all the classics of the­ past I am sure it would be unrecognisable if you were­ to ban and relegate all the riders that we still­ idolise today who probably took­ "medicine".
My answer? Make the 3 Tours 2­ weeks instead of 3, it was formulated nearly 100 yrs­ ago. You could do the same with other races and they­ would provide more exciting racing. Modern cycling has­ become boring what with electronic aids and­ development, i.e. whenver you turn on the TV you can­ forecast that there will be a breakaway that will­ probably be caught ,and if not possible, the pelotin­ will virtually give up.

that is true but depression, if indeed it was­ depression, has an effect on the person mind so they do­ no think straight or pay attention to details such as­ communicating the medications they take to UCI. I hope­ they investigated the case in a sensible way otherwaise­ it might have a dangerous effect on hamilton.

If they didn't give him a ban think how many­ cyclists would be blaming their positive tests on their­ "depression".

It's not tricky judgement or cruel - this guy was­ caught using a banned substance, simple as that. If an­ athlete has an illness that requires medication on the­ banned list they sould inform the anti doping agency in­ advance and not use it as an excuse in after testing­ +ve. All pro's know the system.

By 8 years they are effectively skipping through the­ generation that knows he was a liar so that USA Cycling­ can take him back in as some sort of coach on a US­ Continental Pro Squad touting his­ "achievements". A favor from someone he did a­ favor for earlier in his career.

Yes it's tricky to call judgement- we've heard­ cases of cyclists' asthma inhalers containing­ banned traces, a certain skin moisturer too and even­ the cyclist in 2004 who ate sweets given by his­ grandmother that contained traces of some banned­ drug.
'
What we don't know is whether the­ amount of DHEA in Hamilton could be attributed to the­ anti-depressant or whether that was just a mask to­ deliberate cheating.
'
Takes years to build a­ reputation and seconds to ruin it.

walk a mile in his shoes before you make judgment. If­ he was suffering from depression but did not take a­ prescribed medication, you are just as wise about the­ ingredients as he obviously was.