Alain deserves an answer

Published on Wednesday 21 August 2002 01:00

AT last a bit of humanity, sportsmanship and common sense has entered into the saga of Alain Baxter’s Olympic medal. Everyone who knew Scotland’s bronze medallist at the Salt Lake City Winter Games has poured scorn on the idea of his ever taking banned drugs.

Now skiing’s own governing body has agreed that his mistake in using an American Vick’s inhaler, even though its composition is different from his usual British one, is not serious enough to have him banned from international competition for any longer than the minimum period.

But it’s not all over yet. He’s still on record as having been stripped of his Olympic medal for taking a banned substance. The International Olympic Committee is the only body able to set the record straight.

Alain Baxter didn’t knowingly inhale a banned substance. The one he did inhale is not a performance-enhancing drug.

So why was he stripped of his medal?