( CNN ) -- Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong tweeted Thursday that he 's handed over the bronze medal he won at the 2000 Summer Games , adding that it should be at International Olympic Committee headquarters in Switzerland `` asap . '' Earlier this year , the committee stripped Armstrong of the medal he won in Sydney and asked him to return it . Armstrong -- after years of heated denials -- in January admitted to doping throughout his storied career , which included seven Tour de France wins . Armstrong 's tweet Thursday included a photo of the medal and said `` the 2000 bronze is back in possession '' of U.S. Olympic officials . Mark Higgins , a key member of Armstrong 's camp , did not elaborate on how or why the medal was turned over , beyond saying it was given to the U.S. Olympic Committee . A spokesman for that committee , Patrick Sandusky , confirmed that it has the bronze medal it asked for and added , `` The USOC has made arrangements to return the medal to the IOC . '' The Texas-born Armstrong was a rising star when he was diagnosed in 1996 with testicular cancer at the age of 25 . After getting treatment , he returned better than ever -- reeling off his consecutive string of Tour de France victories between 1999 and 2005 . Armstrong left the sport after his last win , only to come back four years later and place third in cycling 's most prestigious race . His historic rise came at a time when cycling , generally , was mired in repeated doping scandals . Armstrong himself was not immune to such accusations , but each time he fired back at his critics and vehemently insisted he 'd been clean . Yet the tide began to turn against Armstrong in June 2012 , when the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said it had opened proceedings against him and five of his former teammates . The agency , which is designated by Congress as the country 's official anti-doping organization for Olympic sports , announced two months later that it was stripping Armstrong of his Tour de France titles and barring him from future competitions for life . Armstrong remained defiant until sitting down with Oprah Winfrey last January . Calling himself `` deeply flawed , '' Armstrong admitted that he 'd used an array of performance enhancing drugs and took blood transfusions to excel in the highly competitive , scandal-ridden world of professional cycling . Armstrong admits using performance enhancing drugs . `` This is too late , it 's too late for probably most people . And that 's my fault , '' he said . `` ( This was ) one big lie , that I repeated a lot of times . '' The IOC asked for Armstrong 's Olympic medal back the same day the first part of the Winfrey interview aired . Fast facts : Performance Enhancing Drugs in sports . CNN 's Joe Sutton contributed to this report .
NEW : U.S. Olympic Committee has Armstrong 's medal , its spokesman confirms . Lance Armstrong won 7 Tour de France titles , 1 Olympic medal in his career . He strongly denied using performance enhancing drugs until this year . The IOC asked for his bronze medal back the same day his Oprah interview aired .