Don’t get Hammered by Hammer Nutrition

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This just came out today in cyclingnews.com

Just a heads up for anyone using these products:

Neben, others sue Hammer Nutrition over contamination

Mark Zalewski, North American Editor

American cyclist Amber Neben, along with professional triathletes Rebekah Keat and Mike Vine, filed a lawsuit in a California district court last December against Hammer Nutrition, maker of Endurolytes. The lawsuit alleges that the product contained unlisted substances that caused all three plaintiffs to produce positive doping tests, and that further resulted in subsequent doping violations and sanctions.

Court documents obtained by Cyclingnews state that each plaintiff took multiple capsules of the product Endurolytes before competing in events in which each subsequently tested positive for 19-norandrosterone, a metabolite of the banned steroid norandrostenedione found in urine. Arguing for the plaintiffs is Howard Jacobs, well known for his work with Floyd Landis’ case as well as other professional athletes involved with doping violations.

The lawsuit, which was initiated by Keat and her twin-sister Simone, states that Simone had the capsules in question independently tested by the WADA-accredited Doping Control Centre lab in Malaysia in June of 2006, all before retaining Jacobs. That lab reported to Keats that the capsules contained dehydroepiandrosterone and 4-androstenedione. Upon further examination, after repeated requests by Keat, the lab also found the samples were contaminated with norandrostenedione.

Keats retained Jacobs and the capsules were sent for testing at a different lab, Anti-Doping Research, Inc., a non-profit research organization started by Don Catlin, the founder of the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory. Vine and Neben then joined the suit, but their actual capsules were not available for testing.

Neben’s positive violation came from the 2003 Montreal world cup race while she was racing for T-Mobile, which at the time was also run as the USA Cycling Women’s Development Team, headed by Mike Engleman. Hammer Nutrition supplied Engleman and the team with product.

Neben took a voluntary suspension before being handed a six-month, reduced sanction. The reduced sanction from a possible two years to six months came from the Court of Arbitration for Sport, along with a strong criticism of USAC by the majority, citing supplement contamination as the likely cause of the positive and chastising USAC for “encouraging the use of supplements, including Hammer Nutrition products…” which “underscored the total disregard for the warnings USADA and IOC have issued for years.”

To read the full feature, click here.

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About Lovedawg

Tucson, Arizona, USA

19 Replies to “Don’t get Hammered by Hammer Nutrition”

  1. Does this mean I can get stronger while drinking, cause I swear by Endurolytes to help bail me out after a good bender

    Honestly though if this is true, It sucks on many levels and Hammer should be held at least partly responsible for what has happened to these riders

  2. I thought issues like this in the past didn’t excuse a positive test. It’s completely the responsibility of the athlete as to what goes into their body…. atmo.

  3. …this is a shame from the perspective of both sides…

    …& none of the participants, whether athletes or hammer nutrition may be at fault…

    …yet it’s guaranteed both parties will pay for their involvement…

  4. I think my buddy that rode semi-pro for Gary Fisher and LIVED on Hammer stuff (I once joked with him that all of his food now came in pill form) is going to find this VERY interesting.

  5. While contaminated supplements are much more common than we would like to believe, more people should have tested positive than just these three.
    Neben is probably innocent, as is Scott Moninger.
    But Hammer can take comfort in the relative few positives.
    If you see a nandrolone positive, it is almost always contaminated supplements. See Mary Decker Slaney’s successful appeal of her Olympic false positive.

  6. Insain I remember they use to hand that shit out at races. also
    all the primes were Hammer products. look for no bano.. hehe

  7. Seems that every time enhancement contamination is reported in a nutritional supplement product, the remaining stock flys off of the shelf before recall. Go figure.

  8. I would not jump to blame the Hammer folks, I agree with the above mentioned statement of why did not more of the team members test postive? Lot’s of folks have used the Hammer products for a lot of years with no positives, may want to look closer at the athletes.

  9. Oh, that’s called a “Floyd” my fave drink

    Hammer Endurolytes & Jack Daniels

    “nobody beats the biz” – Biz Markie

  10. “Don’t take ‘products’.”

    That’s the new mantra. How about we eat food?

  11. karma don’t come in a pill…

    but man, it is sooooo sweet.

    hammer gets a dose of karma. long time coming…

  12. Been a long time since she’d seen a win
    reflections of quebec hauntin’ her again
    She peed in a cup,
    they took it neat and straight
    A few weeks later, pee had sealed her fate

    Six months went by, then she did a year more
    had no idea what she was positive for
    Heard from a friend, her pee too was dirt
    And yet another guy had also been hurt

    They all got together to find the pee FOE
    two labs later, it was ENDUROLYTES FO SHO

    So they all prolly called the man in MT
    to ask if it was he who caused dirty pee
    I imagine he told them to scram and to flee
    as flames shot out and singed all the trees

    No tact in his step
    no grace in his words
    Called them all druggies
    treats them like turds

    So the jocks formed a team
    with papers to serve
    to try and to HAMMER this one nervy nerve

    Now I have heard, from one little birdy
    that it was NAMES and not pee
    that were made really dirty

    Podiums were lost
    warmth turned to frost
    careers were ruined
    the public said: SAUCED

    So the sun is now setting
    on spring in Montana
    there’s a storm on it’s way
    so grab yer banana

    Jus sit back and observe
    there’s some names to set right
    and one man’s not sleepin
    Holdin his HAMMER all nite…

  13. I love the Poem.
    I’m not a skilled poet but i can pull off a limrick
    Here is one Limrick mararathon style..

    There once was a big man from White Fish
    Who lived a life of pure bliss
    Armed with help of Dr who
    With a PHd from web U
    Drew athlete’s of assumption
    That purity was a function
    The powder supplier slipped
    “Positive” WADA quiped.
    When they found it was tainted
    They awoke after they fainted.
    When they discovered the source
    From Montana of course
    When approached with the proof
    The man was aloof.
    Understanding was the desire
    But he spewed acid & fire
    The law men were pulled in
    Grinning a grin
    With proof from the lab
    The man had been had
    While wanting a million in Goo
    The mans thoughts went to meander
    With denial & slander
    Putting him knee deep in poo

  14. Settlement doesn’t equal guilty.

    Either way, someone either got or is getting screwed.
    Living the American dream.

    Nice poems. I think.

  15. Being a Hammer Nutrition sponsored rider, I have a feeling that this will be an interesting one. Like others have said, I feel that if Endurolytes for laced with unapproved things, other athletes would have been found also. I guess I would like to have seen the bottles that tested bad to see if all of them were from the same lot. I get the feeling that someone is trying to point blame elsewhere and this was an easy target. Hammer issued the usual press release here. http://www.hammernutrition.com/za/HNT?PAGE=ARTICLE&ARTICLE.ID=9107
    Doesn’t really say much, but I have a feeling we will all be hearing more about this in the future.

  16. All this does make you wish the FDA had an eyeball on the supplement industry. They make borderline medicinal claims for their products and just expect you to trust them. And pay out the nose for salt pills.