Tyler fires back: "Olympic sample was deemed negative"

PRNewswire | Statement from U.S. Gold Medalist Tyler Hamilton Regarding Doping Charge

In a press release today, Tyler Hamilton has come out swinging against the IOC testing procedures that labeled him positive for blood doping in Athens.

Hamilton's statements focus on "things that have been said inaccurately in the media:"

...[M]y A sample from the Olympics, the one that first brought on this issue, was initially determined to be negative for blood doping. When it was re-analyzed -- and I am not sure why it was re-analyzed -- it was again deemed negative. It was not a clearly positive test as it has been characterized. Instead, the results of both negative tests were reviewed by a "panel of experts" and then apparently deemed positive.

Additionally:

...[M]y B sample from the Olympics was not accidentally frozen. I have no idea why an official would lie about this procedure but for the record, the protocol is for the B sample to be frozen when the A sample is negative. This was the case with me after my A Sample was deemed negative and is why the lab froze the B sample, as opposed to a lab "mistake."

Hamilton also says the results from Athens and from the Vuelta, where officials say he also tested positive, again for blood doping, "reveal serious inconsistencies, which could mean that 1) the test itself is invalid; 2) the test method was not followed; or 3) that one of the samples is not my blood." Hamilton says his requests to have the blood samples DNA tested, or to have an independent tester review the findings, have all been turned down.