IOC formally opens probe into Lance Armstrong's Olympic medal

Yes, this was already hinted on in the UCI verdict.

http://www.denverpost.com/cycling/ci_21909367/lance-armstrong-could-have-olympic-bronze-medal-from


BERLIN — The International Olympic Committee will investigate Lance Armstrong's 2000 Olympics time-trial bronze medal after the American cyclist was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles.
"The IOC will 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," an IOC official told Reuters on Thursday.
Armstrong was stripped of his 1999-2005 Tour victories last month when the International Cycling Union ratified a U.S. Anti-Doping Agency decision to erase his results from August 1998.
Armstrong has denied doping and maintains he never failed a drug test.
The IOC has an eight-year statute of limitation for changing Olympic results and stripping medals from doping offenders, but IOC vice president Thomas Bach hinted last month there could be ways around the time limit in this case. Reuters


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In other news.
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/01/sport/lance-armstrong-effigy-cycling/index.html


CNN) -- A plan to burn an effigy of Lance Armstrong -- and adorn it with references to Jimmy Savile, the British broadcaster accused of child sex offenses -- has caused outrage.
The residents of an English town want to set ablaze a giant likeness of the cyclist this weekend as part of an annual ritual that focuses on popular hate-figures.
The nine-meter high structure has around its neck a medal referencing Jimmy Savile, who died a year ago at the age of 84 and is now the center an investigation into hundreds of allegations of child sex abuse.
The effigy, organized by the Edenbridge Bonfire Society, has already been criticized by members of the public ahead of the planned November 5 burning.
"Shame on you for selecting Lance Armstrong as your guy; who has personally raised over $500 million for cancer charities," read a comment from one visitor to the society's website on Thursday.

What message are you trying to project? If the organizing committee had any morals or backbone you would scrap this decision and to further associate him with Jimmy Savile is disgraceful."
Annual bonfire celebrations and fireworks displays are held across Britain on November 5 to mark a failed attempt by Guy Fawkes and others to blow up the houses of parliament and kill King James I in 1605. Fawkes was hanged as punishment for his part in the "gunpowder plot."
Where once the November 5 ritual of burning effigies reflected political turmoil and dissension among the population, now it has become a family event controlled by strict rules and regulations -- but one where the wry British sense of mischief still emerges, making targets of establishment figures.
Bonfires are traditionally decorated with a stuffed "Guy," but Edenbridge Bonfire Society has gained a reputation for using celebrities instead.
In 2011 it was controversial Manchester City soccer star Mario Balotelli, who caused a fire by setting off fireworks in his own home despite being the face of a firework safety campaign.
Other celebrity "victims" have included former British prime minister Tony Blair, ex-French president Jacques Chirac and deceased Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
This year it is a yellow-jersey clad Armstrong holding a sign saying: "For Sale Racing Bike, No Longer Required." The effigy also has a medal reading "Jim Fixed It For Me" -- a reference to one of the television shows formerly hosted by Savile.
Another comment on the Edenbridge society's website read: "Burning an effigy of a living person is disgraceful and wrong! I hope that all good minded people will condemn these actions. English people are today being broadcast in the news worldwide as effigy burners.