ATHLETICS: British Olympic bronze medallist Alain Baxter is preparing to defend himself after testing positive for the banned substance methamphetamine. The 28-year-old Scottish skier, who was thrust into the limelight after winning Britain's first Olympic skiing medal in the slalom, said in a statement last night he was "devastated".
The news emerged in a statement issued by the British Olympic Association, nine days after the end of Salt Lake City Games.
In his statement, Baxter said: "Late on Friday afternoon I was telephoned by Simon Clegg, Team GB's chef de mission, who told me that he had been advised by the IOC's Inquiry Commission that the sample I had produced following my slalom performance at the Games contained traces of a banned substance. Naturally, I am devastated by this news.
"I have therefore decided to make public that I am the athlete in question, because I have never knowingly taken any medicine or substance to improve my performance and, as such, believe that I am entirely innocent.
"I am now working with lawyers and medical experts to present my case to the IOC's Inquiry Commission (and the IOC's Disciplinary Commission), which I am advised is unlikely to convene until next week, with a view to defending myself successfully against the charges of doping.
"I do not intend to conduct my defence through the media and as such I am not making myself available for interview and will not be making any further statement on this matter until the IOC's inquiry and disciplinary commissions have ruled on my case."
If Baxter's B sample, a second sample taken at the same time as the positive one, also shows up traces of the stimulant, then he must try to persuade Olympic officials not to strip him of his medal.
SNOOKER: After opening his Thailand Masters title defence in fine style yesterday, Ken Doherty was annoyed at being shunned by television bosses.
Doherty was surprised when the host broadcasters chose to show Dave Harold's first-round match against Steve Davis, rather than Doherty's encounter with Joe Perry.
"I didn't let if affect me, but I think it's a joke," said Doherty, who fought back from 3-0 down to beat Perry 5-3 in front of a small crowd on an outside table at the Merchant Court Hotel.
"Steve Davis is a legend. He's a fantastic ambassador for snooker and he's done a lot for the game here in Thailand. But, after all, he's 17 places lower in the rankings than me.
"I won the trophy here last year, but it obviously doesn't matter. What do you have to do? You work your backside off to win tournaments and get the top of the game and you still aren't picked for the match table."
At least Doherty managed to remain on course for a successful defence of the trophy, and Northern Ireland's Joe Swail, joined him in the last 16 with a 5-0 whitewash of Hong Kong's Marco Fu.
Doherty now has the opportunity to take some of his frustrations out on Harold, who laboured for three hours to beat Davis 5-1.
ATHLETICS: Calls for a national forum to confront the falling standards in certain areas of Irish athletics were made by a small number of former athletics officials gathered in Dublin yesterday, writes Ian O'Riordan. Among the issues they would like to see addressed are the decline of rural clubs and the absence of meaningful development policies, particularly at under-age level.
The group also called on the Athletics Association of Ireland (AAI) to clarify the international boundary rule. Under its new constitution, the AAI are to represent the island of Ireland, but that conflicts with the IAAF rule, which limits jurisdiction of members to the political boundaries of the country or territory they represent.
An AAI spokesperson said the association was aware of the conflict, but they were pressing forward on the matter and are still intent on entering the new era of dealing with athletics on the island of Ireland.
