Earlier this year, the NCAA voided 13 years (1998-2011) of wins for the Penn State football team as a consequence of the Jerry Sandusky scandal . Today it came out that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency is stripping Lance Armstrong of his seven Tour de France wins.
This reminds me of two people who were married and got divorced after some time - and then one wants to think that the marriage never happened. Well, it did. The wedding day, the honeymoon, the children, the house, the life - it all happened. You can't take it back - no matter what.
The NCAA voiding 13 years of wins for the Penn State football team doesn't void that the football players on the roster back in 1998 outscored 9 teams that year. The feelings the players had, the injuries they felt, the experience - it was real... and it can't be taken back.
Same with Lance Armstrong. They can take the wins back on paper, but it doesn't change what really happened. And whoever got 2nd place on those seven days, I'm pretty sure, still feel like they got second - because they did. Whether Lance took performance enhancing drugs or not - whatever happened - did.