Australian cyclist Sean Eadie may not be stripped of his Olympic medal from the 2000 Games even if found guilty of importing hormone tablets, head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Dick Pound said.

Eadie, who will appeal an infraction notice given to him by Cycling Australia and the Australian Olympic Committee after it was alleged he was the intended recipient of the banned tablets in 1999, finished third in the team sprint in Sydney.

While Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates suggested if Eadie didn't successfully defend the allegations the International Olympic Committee would strip him of his medal, Pound said a strong link would have to be established for that to happen.

"Not necessarily," Pound said when asked by Channel Nine if Eadie would lose the medal.

"I think you'd have to know the full facts.

"You'd have to find that it could be established that they were using the drugs during that performance and then you'd have to go back and see whether or not anything could be done about it."

But if that link was made Pound said, the other two cyclists in Eadie's team at the Sydney Games - Gary Neiwand and Darryn Hill - could lose their medals as well.

"As I understand it in cycling rules, that is what can happen if you are there with someone as part of a team - it certainly happens in rowing for instance," he said.

Pound agreed it seemed odd Eadie would have illegal hormone tablets sent to his house just prior to the Olympics but questioned why the cyclist did not raise the issue when Australian Customs had sent him notification they were destroying the package.

"I don't know that you'd be in a position to explain how it happened if you had nothing to do with it," Pound said.

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