Tyler Hamilton

Toronto: A series of errors and misunderstandings led to the botched drug test that resulted in American cyclist Tyler Hamilton retaining his gold medal from the Athens Olympics, said a WADA report on Thursday.

Initial tests carried out in Athens indicated the time-trial champion had received an endurance-boosting blood transfusion. Hamilton, though, was allowed to keep his gold when his back-up sample was mistakenly frozen, leaving too few red blood cells to analyse.

The cyclist has denied ever having used a blood transfusion but still faces a two-year ban following a failed doping test in the Tour of Spain.

?The Hamilton case, obviously there was a mistake made and the error that was made, if it can?t be remedied, will lead to an athlete retaining a medal that we would probably say should not have happened,? WADA director general Dave Howman said.

?I don?t think there?s any doubt an error was made. There has been a mistake made and we?ve taken the steps of writing to the laboratory asking for appropriate remedial action. What everybody knows occurred. The rest will depend on what happens in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.?

A 116-page report by WADA independent observers detailed a long list of errors in judgement and procedures in the Hamilton case, several the result of laboratory techniques and processes being used for the first time.