Alain Baxter

In 2015, Baxter took part in Red Bull Crashed Ice racing events in Belfast and Quebec as part of a Scottish side. He qualified for the final in Quebec but withdrew from the final after sustaining broken ribs.

Following retirement from competition, Baxter runs a ski shop near Glasgow. In February 2014 an online petition was launched to return his medal.

In 2014, the decision was taken to name a housing development in Aviemore "Baxter's Court" in his honour.

After announcing his retirement from downhill skiing in 2009, Baxter decided to try track-cycling. He had some assistance from the Scottish Institute of Sport's talent transfer programme. Baxter made his debut on a track bike racing at Manchester Velodrome on 5 December 2009, at part of the Revolution (cycling series) - Season 6. He set himself a goal of racing in the Commonwealth Games in 2010 which he unfortunately did not achieve.

In 2008, facing ongoing difficulties for funding, he posed naked for photographer Trevor Yerbury to produce a "tastefully nude" calendar. Affected by a chronic back injury, he announced his retirement from competitive skiing in April 2009, age 35.

He competed in the 2006 Winter Olympics at Turin, where he finished 16th in the slalom.

Baxter married businesswoman Sheila Dow in 2006, after the two met at Finlay Mickel's wedding the previous year. They have three children.

He is also a keen player of shinty, and turned out for Kincraig Shinty Club when that club was still active. Baxter won the 2005 British Superstars event, defeating Du'aine Ladejo who had edged Baxter out for the 2003 title.

In 2004 Baxter won his seventh British Slalom title, a record that was unequalled until Dave Ryding also won a seventh title in 2016.

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.

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 levMethamphetamine, a levorotary isomer of methamphetamine, which has no significant stimulant properties. Baxter later proved the source of levMethamphetamine 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. The appeal was successful and his ban was overturned. This gave the Baxter camp great hope for the next appeal to have his medal returned.

The British Olympic Association assisted with, and publicly funded, an appeal against the loss of his medal. In October 2002 his medal appeal was heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne. The basis of the appeal was that the form of methamphetamine in the USA Vicks levMethamphetamine is an inactive isomer of methamphetamine. The CAS and the IOC agreed that he had not intentionally ingested the substance. Under the strict liability doctrine, athletes are liable if they inadvertently take any form of potentially performance-enhancing substance, and a large number of athletes have lost medals as a result. Cold cures and other over-the-counter medicines are the most common sources of trace levels of amphetamines and other stimulants. His appeal rested on whether levAmphetamine was performance-enhancing, Vicks and other expert witnesses explained that it was a decongestant, and had negligible stimulant properties. Dr Don Catlin maintained that the banned list did not specify isomers so all forms were on the banned list and the strict liability doctrine applied. This was particularly controversial since 100 US athletes who won 19 medals tested positive for stimulants at his laboratory, and were cleared to continue competing, and Dr. Catlin was named as part of a 3-man committee that routinely allowed US Olympians such as Carl Lewis to continue competing despite failing drugs tests. The vast majority of athletes named in Wade Exum's papers tested positive for stimulants found in over-the-counter cold medicines. Most were cleared after explaining that they had taken the substances inadvertently.

The court upheld the IOC's decision to disqualify Baxter. The CAS judgement found that "The panel is not without sympathy for Mr Baxter, who appears to be a sincere and honest man who did not intend to obtain a competitive advantage in the race." Nevertheless, they found that his offence had been committed and as such would not reinstate the medal. In December 2002, Raich received the bronze medal.

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.

Alain Baxter (born 26 December 1973) is a British skier who was formerly a professional specialising in the slalom discipline. 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 Briton 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. He competed in FIS events from 1991–2009 and became known as "The Highlander". In the World Cup events, he achieved eleven top-fifteen finishes and four top-ten results.

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