IOC Strips Medals, Not Armstrong’s

LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Eight years after winning Olympic medals in Athens, four track and field athletes from eastern Europe were ordered to hand them back Wednesday because of positive doping tests.

Lance Armstrong, meanwhile, can hold on to his bronze medal from the 2000 Sydney Games for a little while longer.

The International Olympic Committee executive board disqualified four athletes for steroids, including shot put gold medalist Yuriy Bilonog of Ukraine. Also stripped were hammer throw silver medalist Ivan Tskikhan of Belarus and two bronze medalists — women’s shot putter Svetlana Krivelyova of Russia and discus thrower Irina Yatchenko of Belarus.

The IOC, meanwhile, held off stripping Armstrong of the bronze he won in the cycling road time trial in Sydney, citing procedural reasons for the delay.