Five-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong will not take part in next month's Athens Olympics, said the American on Thursday in Paris.

Armstrong, who spent much of the spring in Europe preparing for the Tour, said, "That's really hard and when this race is done I'm going home to be with my children. My first priority is to get back and see my kids.

"I've done the Olympics many times and if I don't have 100 percent motivation for a very important event, I don't want to take somebody else's spot."

Armstrong won the bronze medal in the individual time trial at the 2000 Sydney Games. He also raced in the Barcelona and Atlanta Olympics.

Source: Xinhua