Lance Armstrong Reportedly Stripped of 2000 Olympics Bronze Medal by IOC
Lance Armstrong's interview with Oprah Winfrey is scheduled for Thursday night at 9 p.m. ET, but before that airs, the International Olympic Committee has reportedly stripped him of the bronze medal he won during the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.
According to Josh Levs of CNN.com, the IOC made its decision after Armstrong didn't appeal the International Cycling Union's decision to strip Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles from 1999-2005.
"The International Olympic Committee has stripped Armstrong of the bronze medal he won at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, an IOC spokesman said Thursday. The committee has told Armstrong to return it.
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In the same report, IOC spokesman Mark Adams said that the decision to strip the medal from Armstrong was made "in principle" in December.
Armstrong won the bronze medal during the road time trial events at the 2000 Olympics. He finished behind Viatcheslav Ekimov and Jan Ullrich. It was the only Olympic medal he won in his career.
The report also states that the IOC opened a disciplinary case last November, shortly after the United States Anti-Doping Agency released a report detailing Armstrong's history with performance-enhancing drugs.
There are no plans to reallocate the bronze medal. It will remain vacant in the record books, similar to what the International Cycling Union did when it stripped Armstrong of all his Tour de France victories.
