REGENSDORF, Switzerland, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- U.S. cyclist Tyler Hamilton has vowed to fight allegations he received performance-enhancing blood transfusions, the New York Times said Wednesday.
Hamilton, who won a gold medal in the individual time trial at the Olympics last month in Athens, held a news conference in Switzerland Tuesday to say he is "100 percent innocent" of the claims.
A spokesman for his team, Phonak, said the International Cycling Union, or UCI, had told the team Monday that tests Aug. 19 at the Olympic Games and Sept. 11 at the Spanish Vuelta showed evidence of blood from another person.
Follow-up tests, which are mandated to confirm the first findings, were started Tuesday and were to be finished Wednesday, but it was not known when the results would be announced.
If the results for Hamilton, 33, are confirmed by second tests, he faces the loss of his Olympic medal and a possible two-year ban.
Transfusions can aid performance because they increase the amount of oxygen-transporting red blood cells. The practice has been illegal in cycling since the late 1980's.
