After openly admitting to doping on a very special episode of Oprah Thursday, shamed cyclist Lance Armstrong will no doubt lose his Sydney bronze.
The IOC actually has an eight-year statute of limitations on changing results, but it won’t be difficult for them to circumvent the rules, especially to make an example of Lance, and of doping.
“USADA and the UCI went outside the eight-year limit on the basis that the statute simply doesn’t apply if you have broken the law,” Australian IOC member John Coates previously stated. “So I imagine our lawyer will see if that applies with us.”
But after losing his seven Tour de France titles, all his endorsements, his beloved fans, and his foundation, what’s one more revoked accolade?
Lance was initially outed by the USADA, which claimed that he was part of the “most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen.” But despite the scorn, including having his effigy burned in Edenbridge, England back in November, he still held that he never doped.
Now he’s out, and good for him. We’re not sure what, if anything, we’ll learn from the Oprah interview now that most everything has been leaked, but here’s hoping he doesn’t jump on the couch.
