Violinist Vanessa Mae banned from skiing for four years

By Pascal Lemesre, Football League Editor | 11 November 2014

Vanessa Mae is banned for four years from skiing by the FIS after it was found that she had qualified for the Sochi Winter Olympics by taking part in fixed races.

Vanessa Mae has been hit with a four-year ban from skiing by the International Ski Federation for taking part in races which were fixed to help her qualify for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.

The 36-year-old British citizen, who is a world-renowned classical violinist, represented Thailand in Sochi earlier this year under the name Vanessa Vanakorn after hastily reaching the total needed to qualify from last-minute races in Slovenia.

An FIS statement read: "After considering written submissions and testimony at a hearing on October 3 2014, the hearing panel found to its comfortable satisfaction that the results of the four ladies giant slalom races that took place on 18th and 19th January 2014 at Krvavec (SLO) were manipulated, resulting in the calculation of FIS Points that do not reflect the true performance of the competitors that participated in those events and in particular the points awarded to Vanessa Vanakorn (Mae)."

Mae finished last in the women's giant slalom event in Russia, 50 seconds behind winner Tina Maze.

Five officials involved in the event have also been banned by the FIS.