World Anti-Doping Agency president Dick Pound has faulted both theInternational Olympic Committee and the official lab of the Athens Olympicsfor mistakes he says enabled Tyler Hamilton to keep his individual time trial gold medal despite “strong evidence” that American was guilty of blood doping at the Games."As far as I understand...[the lab director] blew it and also the IOC blew it," Pound said in an interview with Greek private radio station Skai, broadcast on Wednesday.Pound insists that the former Phonak cyclist tested positive for a blood transfusion in August after winning the Olympic time-trial gold medal.However, he was able to keep his gold medal because the IOC said the result of a follow-up sample was "non-conclusive" because it had been destroyed by being deep-frozen.Hamilton was subsequently re-tested at the Vuelta a España, where both samples were ruled to be positive for the presence of a foreign population of red blood cells. Hamilton has been suspended for two years for that violation, a ruling he is currently appealing to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport.But Pound has repeatedly argued that Hamilton’s was an “empty victory”in Athens, since the lab officials initially marked Hamilton's blood sampleas 'suspicious,' which the doping agency head says should have been dealtwith as a positive case from the start."The lab director didn't deal with [the sample] right away as a positivecase, and the IOC didn't notice the problem for several days," the WADAchairman said. "It should have been reported as a positive caseinstead of merely suspicious, and the IOC should have been reading theseforms every day...they didn't respond quickly enough."Hamilton and his attorneys have consistently argued that the Athenslab’s decision to freeze the B-sample from the Olympics was a sure indicationthat the initial test came back negative.Hamilton has pursued a vigorous defense in the case, insisting thatthe Australian-developed test was rushed into use prior to adequate scientificreview of the process.The homologous blood doping test relies on laser light reflection fromdye-impregnated antigens, which bond in given numbers to receptors on thesurfaces of red blood cells. The procedure relies on the fact that, withrare exception, individuals have a unique and distinctive set of antigenreceptors and resulting patterns of fluorescence would differ between populationsof red cells.Pound said he remains secure in the belief that more than two decadesmedical use of so-called flow cytometry has more than demonstrated theefficacy of the procedure. While the application of flow cytometry in dopingcases is new, it is used to sub-type blood groups in hospitals throughoutthe world."I'm sure the B sample would have confirmed the A sample in Athens aswell," Pound said.Last month, a divided three-member panel of the American ArbitrationAssociation and the North American Court of Arbitration for Sport ruledthat Hamilton was guilty of blood doping at the Vuelta and relied on evidencefrom the Athens test, as well as “suspicious” blood analysis from lastyear’s Tour of Romandie in reaching that decision.One member of the panel, however, dissented by pointing to a lack ofadequate review of the test. The majority of the panel, however, concludedthat while the possibility of false positives existed, the causes of thosefalse readings are well known and Hamilton failed to provide any evidenceto suggest that his samples would have fallen into any of those categories.(The full text of the panel's decision is available atwww.USAntidoping.org.)Meanwhile, last December, Greek prosecutors launched an investigationinto the Athens lab’s handling of the case. Prosecutors said they wantedto determine if the deep freezing was deliberate or negligent. Their reportis expected later this year.