IOC statement on pending anti-doping procedure
On 21 September, Phonak spokesman Georges Luedinger announced that
American cyclist Tyler Hamilton failed a blood anti-doping test during
the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.
As with all anti-doping procedures, the IOC had to wait for the process
to be completed before communicating on this case. The facts are as
follows:
- on 22 August, the IOC was informed by the WADA accredited laboratory
in Athens of a suspicious result following the analysis of Tyler
Hamilton's blood sample provided on 19 August after the time-trial race
that took place on 18 August in which he won the gold medal. At the
request of the IOC, a group of experts examined the file and concluded
on 16 September that Tyler Hamilton's A blood sample gave rise to an
adverse analytical finding;
- on the basis of this conclusion, the IOC decided on 16 September to
launch a disciplinary procedure to be handled by Juridical Commission
Chairman Thomas Bach, and Executive Board Members Denis Oswald and
Sergey Bubka, and to immediately notify the National Olympic Committee
and the athlete;
- on 22 September, the laboratory analysis of the B sample was
'considered as non conclusive because of lack of enough intact red blood
cells';
- on 23 September, the IOC informed Tyler Hamilton that, although the A
sample gave rise to an adverse analytical finding on 19 August in
Athens, the disciplinary procedure has had to be stopped because of the
non-conclusive result of the B sample analysis. The IOC also informed
him that therefore the Disciplinary Commission was being dissolved and
that the IOC would not be pursuing sanctions regarding this matter.
- the fact that the analysis of the B sample was not conclusive does not
challenge the accuracy of the analysis of the A sample;
the method used during the Olympic Games in Athens was authorized by the
World Anti-Doping Agency after validation by the international
scientific community in accordance with an established set of criteria.