A British Olympic Alpine skier said if he makes it to the Olympic podium in Beijing, China, he will cut his medal in half to share it with his coach, a former Olympian whose own medal was revoked decades ago.
David Ryding, competing in his fourth Winter Games, said he would share any victory with assistant coach Alain Baxter, whose medal was rescinded after he tested positive for a banned substance at the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002.
“I can still remember really getting this feeling, and Alain will always be — whatever I achieve, Alain for me will be here because that’s how you perceive your heroes,” Ryding said, according to Insider. “If he didn’t do what he did in Salt Lake, who knows if I would have had the drive, the belief to do what I did?”
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Baxter successfully appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, where he was cleared of cheating allegations after it was revealed the substance came from a nasal spray he bought in the United States. Still, the committee refused to reinstate the bronze medal.
“God help us that no one has to go through it again,” Ryding said. “It affected our sport. It affected him massively. If I was to get a medal, I think the best thing I could do was cut it in half and give him half of it.”
Ryding, appointed as a flag bearer for the opening ceremony, became the first British Slalom skier to win a gold medal at the World Cup last month. He had previously won silver in 2017 and a separate bronze last month. He has never placed at the Olympics. Ryding, 35, confirmed that Beijing would be his last chance, according to the Independent.
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Others have mistakenly taken banned substances that resulted in the cancellation of their medals. Romanian gymnast Andreea Răducan, who won Olympic gold all-around, tested positive for a banned substance in cold medicine given to her by the team physician in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. While she was also able to convince the Olympic committee it was not intentional, she was unable to get her medal back, according to NBC Sports.
Nadezhda Ostapchuk, a shot putter from Belarus, tested positive for a banned steroid at the Olympic games in London in 2012 after winning a gold medal. Her coach slipped the steroid into her food in the hopes it would exit her system before the drug test.
Ostapchuk had tested negative for banned substances twice before competing, Belarus’s anti-doping agency said. Ostapchuk was banned from competing for one year, and her medal was revoked, according to Reuters.
