British Skier Guilty of Doping

Thursday, March 21st 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(LONDON) - British skier Alain Baxter will be stripped of his Olympic bronze medal in the slalom over a positive drug test at the Salt Lake City Winter Games, a senior Olympic official said Thursday.

The International Olympic Committee ruled that Baxter was guilty of a doping offense after testing positive for a banned stimulant, an IOC executive board member told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official announcement was expected later Thursday.

The IOC executive said Baxter would be disqualified and forfeit the bronze medal, becoming the third athlete stripped of a medal for drug violations at the Salt Lake City Games.

The official said the board also disqualified Vasily Pankov, an ice hockey player from Belarus who tested positive for the steroid nandrolone.

Five doping cases have now been confirmed from Salt Lake, matching the total of all previous Winter Olympics.