COLORADO SPRINGS – Kirk O’Bee, a past member of Lance Armstrong’s US Postal Service cycling team in 2000, received a lifetime ban for a second doping offense on Wednesday from a US arbitration panel.

The US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced the punishment to the 33-year-old American, whose results since October 3, 2005 — including a 2007 US national criterium crown — were wiped out as a result of the finding.

An American Arbitration Association panel upheld USADA’s ruling that O’Bee had tested positive for synthetic erythropoietin (EPO) in an out-of-competition test on May 20, 2009.

O’Bee had received a one-year ban from USADA after a sample taken at the US Pro Championships in Philadelphia on June 10, 2001, tested positive for the banned anabolic agent testosterone.

The arbitrators also upheld evidence uncovered by USADA that established O’Bee had actually committed a repeat doping violation as early as October 3, 2005 — almost four years before his second positive test.

The punishment imposed despite the lack of a positive test came after USADA produced e-mails showing the purchase or taking of banned substances such as EPO and human growth hormone and the purchase of a blood measuring device.

With the repeat offenses and evidence of purchases of banned substances, the panel decided upon a life ban for O’Bee, who now lives in suburban Vancouver, Canada.

Article:AFP