Support grows for Alain Baxter's bronze medal finish to be recognised
An online campaign demanding that Alain Baxter’s bronze medal is reinstated is continuing to gain momentum.
So far 3,712 people have signed an i-petition calling for him to have his medal returned. Baxter famously finished third in the men’s slalom at Deer Valley in the Salt Lake City Games in the US in 2002 but was later disqualified after failing a drugs test.
He had unwittingly used a US version of a Vicks inhaler which contained a banned but non-performance enhancing substance. Despite later being cleared of any cheating, the Court for Arbitration in Sport upheld the International Olympic Committee’s decision to strip him of his medal.
However, the success of Bristol’s Jenny Jones in claiming a bronze in the ladies’ slopestyle competition at the Sochi Games in Russia has re-opened the debate.
Stevie Trolland, from Aviemore and a former GB snowboarder cross champion, said: “Everyone living here knows that it was our very own Alain Baxter who claimed the nation’s first ever medal on snow.
“I know Alain being as humble as he is will just try let that part of it blow over, but I’m sure it must hurt him too.”
The petition states: “We the undersigned call on the International Olympic Committee and other relevant bodies to restore the Olympic bronze medal won by Alain Baxter at the 2002 winter games in Salt Lake City”.
The aim is to collect 10,000 signatures in the first instance.
Alain’s cousin, Lesley McKenna, a former world number one ladies half-pipe competitor, is the performance manager for the British freestyle snowboard team including Jenny Jones.
Media pundits hailed her bronze as GB’s first Olympic medal on snow. That has not gone down too well with many in Aviemore who believe Baxter was robbed of his medal.
But McKenna stressed: “Alain phoned me to pass on his congratulations to Jenny.”
McKenna also said she hoped the sport’s exposure would encourage more people to take take up snowboarding, in particular women and young girls in the strath, with members of the Olympic team hopefully attending a competition at CairnGorm Mountain in April.
Anybody wishing to sign the petition can do so via http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/alain-baxter-team-gbs-first-winter-olympic-medal
