Ullrich refuses to hand over Olympic medals

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According to Senegalese website Senego Jan Ullrich has stated in an interview with Sky Sports on Friday that he has no intentions of returning the medals he won at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. The German rider who has been embroiled in doping controversies common to the Armstrong era won gold in the road race and silver in the time trial at the Olympics in Sydney.

His statement comes on the back of the acknowledgment from the IOC that they have received the bronze medal that Lance Armstrong won in the time trial event at Sydney. Ullrich was steadfast in his belief that the medals belonged to him, and no one else.

"I do not really understand why we attach so much importance to things that belong to the past," said Ullrich. "These medals belong to me. Anyone who wants to see them can to my house.

"This story is fifteen years old, we would do better to look forward."

Ullrich admitted to blood doping with aid of Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes in an interview with German magazine, Focus, in June this year. In the interview he pointed out that he believed that everyone in that era was cheating and he was only leveling the playing field.

"Almost everyone at the time was taking performance-enhancing substances," he said. "I didn’t take anything that was not taken by the others. It would only have been cheating for me if I had gotten an advantage which was not the case. I just wanted to ensure I had an equal opportunity.”