Q: I read that Lance Armstrong has been stripped of his seven Tour de France titles. Will the runners-up be awarded the titles, and who are they?
—John Walter, Atlanta
A: No one will be declared the winner of the Tour de France between 1999-2005, Christian Prudhomme, the director of the tour, said this week. Armstrong won the Tour de France every year during that stretch, but first place will remain vacant since virtually every one of the top finishers in that span have been linked to doping. "It indicates that no one in the races was above suspicion, which highlights the fact that doping was prevalent during the entire period," Dick Pound, former president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said in USA Today. Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles on Monday and his name was removed from the record books.
Q: Could you please get me a contact address for Mark Owen, the U.S. Navy SEAL who participated in the death of Osama bin Laden? His book, “No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama bin Laden” is excellent and intriguing, and I would like to thank him for writing it.
—Janie Estfan, Sandy Springs
A: Mark Owen is the pseudonym for Matt Bissonnette, the Navy SEAL who was in the raid to kill bin Laden in May. You can write to him at Penguin Group USA, Attn: Stephanie Kelly, 375 Hudson St., Third Floor, New York, NY 10014. Bissonnette, who was identified by Fox News, also changed the names of the other SEALs in the book, Penguin said.
Andy Johnston wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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