Alain Baxter

Alain Baxter (born 26 December 1973) is a Scottish former alpine skier who was formerly a professional specialising in the slalom discipline.

Baxter was born on 26 December 1973 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

He is the son of Iain and Sue Baxter, who were both British Ski Team members.

Baxter's father named him after Alan Breck Stewart, a character from the Robert Louis Stevenson novel Kidnapped, who was a rebellious Highlander.

The French spelling led some to believe he was named after the 70s French skiing star Alain Penz.

He competed in FIS events from 1991 to 2009 and became known as "The Highlander".

In the World Cup events, he achieved eleven top-fifteen finishes and four top-ten results.

At 16 years of age, he was selected to the British Alpine Ski Team in 1991.

Baxter's first 10 years of competition were achieved without him having access to any significant funding.

Austrian journalists gave him the sobriquet "The Highlander".

He steadily worked his way through the world rankings, making the top 100 in time for the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics.

His best result in World Cup was 4th at Åre 11 March 2001 and he had three other top 10 finishes in 2001.

In 2001, at Wengen he finished seventh in the World Cup Slalom, the best performance by a Britain at the Swiss resort.

Ahead of the Olympics, ski technology was developing rapidly and Baxter's sponsor Head, was struggling to keep up the progress made by other ski manufacturers.

He is best known for failing a drug test after finishing third in the men's slalom of the 2002 Winter Olympics, resulting in him being controversially stripped of the bronze medal; he would have become the first British person to win an Olympic medal in a skiing event.

The use of a nasal inhaler purchased in the US had led to the presence of a banned substance in Baxter's urine.

He was allowed to return to competition, although his appeal to have the medal reinstated failed.

In the Salt Lake City Olympics of 2002, Baxter made British Olympic history on 23 February by becoming the first British skier to win a medal (Bronze) in alpine skiing.

In the men's slalom, Baxter was in eighth place in the first run, then rose to third after the second run.

Before the competition he had dyed his hair in the pattern of the Saltire cross of St Andrew: the flag of Scotland.

The British Olympic Association (BOA) ordered him to remove the political symbol, but the blue dye he used to try to obliterate the white saltire was a different shade, and the saltire pattern could still clearly be seen when he won his medal.

On 1 March, as he was leaving the Olympic village to return home, Baxter was informed by the BOA that a sample he submitted had tested positive for a restricted substance.

Baxter returned home to Aviemore to a hero's welcome and a parade around the town in an open top bus.

On 5 March the BOA released a statement on his behalf, revealing that he had failed a drugs test, with his urine having tested positive for the prohibited substance, methamphetamine.

Baxter stated that he had not knowingly ingested, and that he would not make any further statement until the IOC's inquiry and disciplinary commissions ruled on his case.

After the first sample tested positive, a disciplinary stage was expected to follow and the British Olympic Association offered their support.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) held a private two-day hearing in Lausanne, where Baxter would be able to speak, with the outcome expected the following week.

On 21 March, Baxter held a press conference in London, where he offered an explanation that he believed a nasal inhaler that he had used had been the cause of the positive test.

the IOC announced the decision of their executive board that Baxter was disqualified and was told to return his medal.

Baxter returned the medal, for it to be awarded to Austrian Benjamin Raich.

Baxter had provided a urine sample immediately after the race on 23 February.

Initial reports were that his urine sample contained a trace amount of methamphetamine, a banned stimulant.

The BOA formally asked the IOC to carry out a split test on Baxter's sample on the basis that there are two forms of the drug.

The more advanced tests showed that the substance present was levomethamphetamine, a levorotary isomer of methamphetamine, which has no significant stimulant properties.

Baxter later proved the source of levomethamphetamine was from a Vicks inhaler that he had used in the United States.

He had been unaware that the contents were different from those found in the UK version.

The International Ski Federation accepted his explanation and on 2 June announced they would require him to serve a ban of 3 months, on the basis that this was a first offence of unintentionally using a prohibited substance.

This sanction meant he would miss the first month of the 2002–3 World Cup season and an appeal was lodged in late June.

The British Ski and Snowboard Federation appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the case was heard on 30 September 2002.

At Nagano he straddled a gate and was disqualified, having been 15th-fastest at the checkpoint just before.