COACHING EDGE |WINTER SPORT|
that, especially over- the-counter medicine, just
check with everyone. Don’t run the risk.’
Baxter’s treatment following the 2002 Games
is understandably still a sore point, especially
when you consider the treatment of high-profile
drugs ‘cheats’ in recent years.
‘If you compare my case with someone like
Lance Armstrong, it’s pathetic,’ he says. ‘How
can they come down so hard on someone like
me, when what was in my system wasn’t even
performance-enhancing and they didn’t
recognise it?’
Baxter, who turns 40 on Boxing Day, stepped
down from ski racing in 2009 leaving behind a
legacy of being the UK’s most successful skier
of all time. Like a lot of world-class performers,
he possesses the qualities of a strong all-round
athlete (he excels at shinty and ice hockey too),
and even has a touch of star quality, as he
showed when he appeared on the BBC’s
Superstars programme.
So, following retirement, Baxter decided to go
down the unusual route of trying to pursue a
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career as an elite ath