IOC Stripped Team GB Star of Olympics Medal and Issued Ban After Doping Scandal

The International Olympic Committee have previously stripped a Team GB star of his Winter Olympic Games medal due to a doping scandal.

Last weekend, the 2026 Winter Olympic Games began in Milan-Cortina, with athletes looking to clinch gold.

So far, Norway lead the way having won six golds, one silver and four bronzes.

Germany and Sweden are currently joint-second with three golds, two silvers and one bronze. They are closely followed by Switzerland, who have so far won three golds, one silver and one bronze.

Meanwhile, Team GB are still looking for their first medal of the latest games.

Back in 2002, the Winter Olympic Games were held in Salt Lake City, United States.

At the time, Team GB star Alain Baxter became the first British skier to win a medal in alpine skiing, having won bronze in the men's slalom event.

However, less than a month after the Winter Olympics ended, a statement was released by the British Olympic Association on behalf of Baxter, revealing that he had failed a drug test.

As per The Independent, it was alleged that his urine sample tested positive for a prohibited substance called methamphetamine.

After a hearing held by the IOC, Baxter was stripped of the bronze medal, which was then awarded to Austrian Benjamin Raich.

During a press conference held in London, Baxter explained that he had purchased a Vicks nasal inhaler in America that he thought was the same one he used at home.

However, the US version of the inhaler contains levamfetamine, a strain of the banned substance methamphetamine.

Alain Baxter had won bronze at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. Image: Getty

At the time, the director general of the IOC, Francois Carrard said: "This [Baxter's version of events] is not disputed.

"But the rules are such that the mere presence in the body of a banned substance – unless instilled beyond doubt by some criminal, for example – automatically triggers the decision [to find the athlete guilty]. The rules allow no room for assessing the circumstances.

"The rules are very harsh. We have to admit that. But we have no margin at all for judging how a substance got there. The rules are clear. They are not against one man. They are there for the purposes of the fight against doping. We did not base our decision on the assumption that what he told us was not true."

Baxter was originally handed a three-month ban by the International Ski Federation, but upon appeal, the suspension was overturned.

The Scotsman had hoped to appeal against losing his bronze medal, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the IOC's decision to strip Baxter of his medal.

It was stated that although the CAS panel had 'sympathy for Mr Baxter', the offence was still committed and therefore the medal was not reinstated.