Oprah's interview confirming Lance Armstrong's admission to doping hasn't aired yet, but the International Olympic Committee has heard all it needs to hear. A spokesman for the committee announced today that the IOC has asked Armstrong to return his 2000 Olympic bronze medal, won two months after his second Tour de France title.
The decision is not a response to Armstrong's anticipated confession, but the result of the IOC's own investigation into Armstrong's drug use following the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency report released in November. The IOC discussed stripping Armstrong of his bronze medal in December, but decided to wait for official confirmation from the International Cycling Union that Armstrong was not appealing its October decision to strip him of his seven Tour de France titles. Armstrong had 21 days following that announcement to file an appeal.
"Having had confirmation from UCI that Armstrong has not appealed the decision to disqualify him from Sydney, we have written to him to ask for the return of the bronze medal," IOC spokesman Mark Adams told the Associated Press. "We have also written to USOC to inform them of the decision."
The IOC will not reallocate Armstrong's bronze medal, just as the ICU elected not to redistribute his seven Tour de France titles in light of widespread doping allegations.
