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Wednesday, 27 February, 2002, 14:13 GMT
Olympic star Baxter breezes in
Britain's first ever Olympic medal winning skier has arrived home to a hero's reception.
Alain Baxter, who won a bronze medal in the slalom, was greeted by family, friends, fans and even bagpipers on his arrival at Edinburgh Airport.
The 28-year-old is to be honoured with a street party for 1,000 people when he gets back to his hometown of Aviemore, in Invernesshire, on Wednesday evening.
And after a lengthy journey from Salt Lake City, Baxter said he was glad to be home.
He said: "I've heard they've got a Tartan Army bus so it will be quite wild.
"I was hoping they were 'partied out' from the race so they will not be too hard on me."
Baxter said the significance of his feat was starting to dawn on him.
"You realise how big the Olympics are," he said.
"I knew before it was like any other race but at the finish it was a lot different."
The skier's parents, Ian Baxter and Sue Dickson, were both Scottish team skiers.
His mother, who has a ski school in France, watched the race with his aunt in Edinburgh.
"It's going to give skiing in Britain a big boost. In the last five years I have been the only one who has been properly funded.
"I think now they will realise they have got promising young guys and funding will be pumped into them.
"We've got the biggest base for a long time and they're all young.
"We also have to encourage young skiers to come through and work on junior development and bring them through the ranks."
The star said he planned to have a week off before going to Austria, with the aim of racing in the World Cup finals.
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