German rider Jan Ullrich has had many of his more recent performances discredited due to his links with Operacion Puerto, but efforts to strip him of the gold and silver medals he achieved in the 2000 Olympics appear to be a step too far.
The International Olympic Committee has just met in Vancouver, Canada, and appear to have decided that he will keep his results from the Sydney Games.
“The whole issue has stalled,” said IOC disciplinary chairman Denis Oswald to Het Laatste Nieuws. “We are reluctant to abandon it, but there is simply not a shred of evidence that Ullrich used doping at the Olympics in 2000.”
The former T-Mobile rider put on a big display in the road race when he broke clear with trade team team-mates Alexandre Vinokourov and Andreas Klöden.
Ullrich attacked those with three kilometres remaining, finishing nine seconds ahead of Vinokourov and a further three up on Klöden.
Three days later, he took silver in the time trial, finishing eight seconds behind Viatcheslav Ekimov and 26” ahead of Lance Armstrong.
Ullrich won the Tour de France in 1997 and finished second five times. For many years he was Lance Armstrong’s closest rival and, following the Texan’s retirement, looked capable of taking victory in 2006.
However he, co-favourite Ivan Basso and several others were implicated in the Operacion Puerto scandal and barred from starting the race.
Ullrich denied all involvement but in April 2007, it was reported that his DNA had been matched to blood bags seized in the police raids. He had announced his retirement several weeks earlier.