| Alain Baxter |
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He is the son of Iain and Sue Baxter, who were both British Ski Team members. He is named after the 70s French skiing star Alain Penz . At 16 years of age, he was selected to the British Alpine Ski Team in 1991, and he steadily worked his way through the world rankings, making the top 100 in time for the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics . In the . The British Olympic Association ordered him to remove this symbol of his nationality, because they wanted to project an image of " Britishness ", 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. Alain returned home to Aviemore to a hero's welcome and a parade around the town in an open top bus. But a few days later, Alain discovered that he had failed a drugs test. His sample contained a trace amount of Methamphetamine . After an appeal, the IOC declared that Baxter was disqualified from the competition and he would have to return his medal. Baxter was able to confirm later that the trace had originated from a Vicks inhaler bought in the USA . He had been unaware that the contents were different to those found in the UK version. Accepting that he would not be able to win the argument to retain his medal, he moved to focus on the battle to retain his reputation. The International Ski Federation accepted his explanation and banned him for the minimum of 3 months. While his form has never quite reached the same heights as they did in Salt Lake City , Alain Baxter is still the highest ranked and most recognisable male alpine skier in the UK. His brother, Noel Baxter is also an alpine skier. His cousin Lesley McKenna is a leading professional Snowboarder . |
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