Lance Armstrong Finally Returns His Olympic Medal After Doping Admission

Tainted cyclist Lance Armstrong has finally parted with the bronze medal that he won at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

The Texan's trophy case has been getting ever smaller since he made his public confession to Oprah Winfrey at the start of the year that he had used performance-enhancing drugs during the start of his career.

Even before the Winfrey revelations, he had already been formally stripped of his seven Tour de France titles, won between 1999 and 2005, as reported by the BBC.

And now via Twitter the 41-year-old confirmed that another of his prized possessions had now been returned.

"

The 2000 Bronze is back in possession of @usolympics and will be in Switzerland asap to @olympics. http://t.co/IxwLy4KD1f

— Lance Armstrong (@lancearmstrong) September 12, 2013"

Armstrong won the medal originally in the men's individual time trial. The U.S. Olympic Association confirmed on Twitter that it had been safely received:

"

I can confirm that The United States Olympic Committee has received the bronze medal awarded to Lance (cont) http://t.co/G6uJJXJ115

— Patrick Sandusky (@PatrickSandusky) September 12, 2013"

"

For those asking how we received medal from Lance Armstrong, @USOlympic CEO Scott Blackmun was handed the medal by Mark Higgins at DFW today

— Patrick Sandusky (@PatrickSandusky) September 12, 2013"

In theory the rightful bronze-medal winner will now be Spain's Abraham Olano, who finished fourth in the race.

However, Olano himself was caught up in doping revelations just this summer—like Armstrong, some time after his career had finished—losing his position as the technical director of the Vuelta a Espana as a result.