The IOC formally opened an investigation on Thursday that could result in Lance Armstrong being stripped of his Olympic bronze medal for doping.
The IOC is looking into the Olympic involvement of Armstrong, other riders and officials implicated in the US Anti-Doping Agency report detailing “the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen.”
Cycling’s governing body, the UCI, last week formally stripped Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles from 1999-2005. Armstrong could now also lose the bronze medal he won in the road time trial at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
“The IOC will now immediately start the process concerning the involvement of Lance Armstrong, other riders and particularly their entourages with respect to the Olympic Games and their future involvement with the games,” the International Olympic Committee said in a statement.
Levi Leipheimer, a former Armstrong teammate who won the time-trial bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games, could also have his medal revoked. One of the key witnesses in the USADA’s case against Armstrong, the American confessed to doping.
The medals could come up for review at the IOC’s executive board meeting next month in Lausanne, Switzerland. Meantime, the IOC is also monitoring the UCI’s plans for an independent investigation to examine allegations about the federation’s own conduct and relations with Armstrong raised by the USADA report.
“The IOC has taken note of the UCI’s decision and welcomes all measures that will shed light on the full extent of this episode and allow the sport to reform and to move forward,” the IOC said.