Lance Armstrong has finally returned his Sydney 2000 Olympic bronze medal to the International Olympic Committee after nine months of foot dragging.
Armstrong’s spokesman Mark Higgins handed off the bronze metal to USOC chief executive officer Scott Blackmun at the Dallas-Forth Worth airport on Thursday.
Several days ago IOC Vice President Thomas Bach reiterated that Armstrong had not yet complied with their request that he return the medal. He told reporters, “What we are lacking, sadly, is just getting back the medal.” It was enough of a nudge to move Lance Armstrong beyond the nearly year-long stalemate.
The athlete hit Twitter yesterday to provide this status report to his nearly 4 million followers:
The IOC vacated the medal Armstrong won in January, right around the time the disgraced cyclist sat down with Oprah Winfrey to discuss his fall from grace.
He was also stripped of his seven Tour de France titles after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency determined he led a massive doping program and cover up on his teams. He was also banned for life from elite sports.
In defiance, he posted this image on Twitter that was captioned, “Back in Austin and just layin’ around.”
Photos: Twitter-Lance Armstrong, Video Screen Grabs