[DRB]

http://msn.foxsports.com/story/3263672
An Olympic doping laboratory was charged Monday with destroying a sample that belonged to gold medalist cyclist Tyler Hamilton.

Prosecutors charged "unknown perpetrators" with destroying a backup sample of the U.S. rider's blood.
After winning his event at the Athens Games, Hamilton took a doping test, and an initial sample and backup sample were kept by the lab. A test of the initial sample showed evidence of a blood transfusion, but the case against Hamilton was dropped after his backup sample was frozen, leaving too few red blood cells to analyze.

Hamilton tested positive again at a September race, with both samples confirming the result. He has questioned the reliability of the testing system for blood doping, which boosts endurance by raising the level of oxygen-carrying red blood cells.

 

[DRB]

http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/7318.0.html

This article blames the storage protocol not that any one purposely destroyed the sample.

"The problem was that you have two vials - the serum and the whole blood," Pound said. "Both are in the same package and the two call for distinctly different handling. The serum can be frozen, while the whole blood needs to be refrigerated. We have to fix that system."

Then it goes on to really bust Hamiliton.

Pound has frequently argued that the test results from the Vuelta underscore the positive from Athens.

"He got to keep his medal, but somewhere in that whole process, they get the word out that he needs to be tested at the Vuelta... and that test showed the same stuff as did the A sample from Athens," he said. "So yes, yes his medal is tainted. He doesn't deserve to have a gold medal. The tests show that. As I said, he dodged a bullet."

Pound's position was echoed by IOC president Jacques Rogge.

Rogge told the Reuters news service on Monday that he regretted the "technicality" that allowed Hamilton to keep his gold medal.

"The stupidity of a lab employee made it impossible to punish the American, but it does not question the validity of the test," Rogge said. "Nobody will regard him as the time trial Olympic champion in Athens."