Cyclist Lance Armstrong returns Olympic bronze medal after IOC demand

Lance Armstrong was last year stripped of all his titles and wins after being found guilty of widespread doping (Getty Images)

Lance Armstrong, the disgraced American cyclist, has returned the bronze medal that he had won at the 2000 Olympics in Australia, the cyclist himself confirmed yesterday.

Armstrong, after being indicted in one of the biggest doping scams in the history of sports, had been told to return the medal by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over nine months ago. However, the medal seems to have been presented back just yesterday, reports TOI.

“The 2000 Bronze is back in possession of @usolympics and will be in Switzerland asap to @Olympics,” Armstrong posted yesterday on Twitter, along with a photo of the medal.

United States Olympic Committee (USOC) spokesman Patrick Sandusky also confirmed this on Twitter that the American body had indeed received the medal from Armstrong.

“I can confirm that The United States Olympic Committee has received the bronze medal awarded to Lance Armstrong at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney,” Sandusky said.

“The International Olympic Committee and the USOC had previously requested that the medal be returned. The USOC has made arrangements to return the medal to the IOC.”

Earlier on Monday, new IOC chief Thomas Bach in his role as head of the IOC’s judicial commission, had brought up the issue and informed the media that Armstrong was yet to return the medal even after the demand placed by the IOC.

Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned from the sport for life in October, 2012, after the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) managed to produce conclusive evidence of his involvement in widespread doping along with his former team-mates.