December 6, 2012 (Lausanne, Switzerland) – The Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that Lance Armstrong can keep–at least for now–the bronze he won in the ITT at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, reports news.com.au.
The IOC also announced that four athletes–none of them cyclists–who won medals at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games have been disqualified after further analysis of their stored samples resulted in adverse analytical findings.
IOC President Jacques Rogge said the two-day meeting that he was waiting for the UCI to officially inform Armstrong that he has been disqualified and should return the medal. This is presumably just a formality that buys Armstrong a little bit of time. As widely reported earlier, the UCI decided in October to strip Armstrong of his seven TdF wins from 1999–2005.
The IOC has no plans to reallocate Armstrong’s medal, just as the UCI decided not to declare winners for the seven TdF titles revoked from the American. Retired Spanish rider Abraham Olano Manzano, who finished fourth in Sydney, will not be upgraded and the bronze medal placing will be left vacant in the Olympic records.
The IOC is also investigating Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), a former Armstrong teammate who won bronze in the ITT at the 2008 Beijing Olympics
The four athletes named by the IOC are Yuriy Bilonog (1st, men’s shot put; Ukraine), Svetlana Krivelyova (3rd, women’s shot put; Russia), Ivan Tsikhan (2nd, men’s hammer throw; Belarus), and Iryna Yatchenko (3rd, women’s discus throw; Belarus).
Read more HERE.
Official IOC Release
The Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) today announced that four athletes who won medals at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games have been disqualified after further analysis of their stored samples resulted in adverse analytical findings.
The four athletes are Yuriy Bilonog (1st, men’s shot put; Ukraine), Svetlana Krivelyova (3rd, women’s shot put; Russia), Ivan Tsikhan (2nd, men’s hammer throw; Belarus), and Iryna Yatchenko (3rd, women’s discus throw; Belarus).
In all four cases, the IOC Executive Board has ordered the relevant National Olympic Committees to return to the IOC, as soon as possible, the medals and diplomas awarded to the athletes.
The full decisions can be found via the following links:
– Yuriy Bilonog (oxandrolone metabolite) Disciplinary Commission recommendations EB Decision
– Svetlana Krivelyova (oxandrolone metabolite) Disciplinary Commission recommendations EB Decision
– Ivan Tsikhan (methandienone metabolite) Disciplinary Commission recommendations EB Decision
– Iryna Yatchenko (methandienone metabolite) Disciplinary Commission recommendations EB Decision
In addition, the IOC notes that one pending case remains.
The IOC stores samples for eight years after each edition of the Games so they can be re-tested should more sophisticated detection methods become available or new substances be added to the list of banned substances.
The IOC, in close collaboration with the World Anti-Doping Agency, decided to further analyse a number of samples from the Athens Games as a result of targeted testing based on intelligence and new methods.