UP TO 300 test results taken from athletes at the Beijing Olympics have gone missing, says a report by official drug testing observers who attended the Games.

The team of 10 independent observers, who were given the task of reporting on drug testing procedures at the Games, detailed the startling news in their official report to the World Anti-Doping Agency.

The Report of the Independent Observers states: "Once the [Beijing] laboratory had apparently delivered all reports to the independent observer team, it transpired that around 300 test results were missing in comparison to the doping control forms."

The team checked the status of the laboratory results with the International Olympic Committee medical chairman, Dr Arne Ljungqvist, and the observers reported that the IOC also "may be missing some reports".

The independent observers were so concerned by the missing tests that they have reserved the right to submit further comment on the process, pending further cross-checking.

They also uncovered some surprising deviations from normal drug testing procedures, including the fact that the Beijing laboratory couldn't test for one banned substances - insulin. The observers noted that the samples would be stored for eight years and could be retested if the IOC deemed it necessary. Another concern was that the laboratory had failed to detect one of the quality control samples that had contained a prohibited substance.

The observers also reported that nearly half the national Olympic committees did not provide data on the whereabouts of their athletes to enable effective pre-Games and out-of-competition drug testing. The numbers tested for erythro-poetin (EPO) were "relatively low, notably in the sports where the use of EPO has been detected".