LOS ANGELES, California, August 8. ON the eve of the 2008 Olympic Games, a UCLA-based lab has admitted to an error in the timing of Jessica Hardy's test that probably cost Tara Kirk, Lara Jackson and Amanda Weir a spot on the U.S. Olympic roster, according to an article in the Seattle Times.
Ron Judd reports in the article that the test lab initially entered the wrong expediency code for Hardy's sample that cost decision makers at least a week in the decision-making process.
Additionally, as fax from the test lab indicating the positive test was sent on July 18 to the United States Anti-Doping Agency, but the document was not picked up until July 21 – the date USA Swimming was operating on as a deadline for a final roster to be entered.
The following excerpt for the article tells the story of the mistake that likely dashed Olympic hopes for three U.S. swimmers.
"We dropped the ball, and we missed it," Crouch said. "We clearly made the mistake." The Hardy test sample was the only trials sample assigned an incorrect due date, he added.
Full text of Seattle Times article.
