Vanessa-Mae Banned From International Skiing for Pre-Olympic Race Fixing

Violinist Vanessa-Mae, who made her Olympic skiing debut at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, has been banned from competitive skiing for four years - for race fixing.

An International Ski Federation hearing has today ruled that the results of four giant slalom qualifying races, that took place on the 18th and 19th of January at Krvavec, Slovenia were falsely inflated to artificially boost Vanessa-Mae's standing as a potential Olympian.

“Without the manipulation she would not have achieved the necessary FIS point performance level to be eligible to participate in the Olympic Winter Games,” the panel has handed down.

The 35 year old musician, who competed at the games for Thailand, finished last of 67 competitors in the ladies' two-run giant slalom.

The International Ski Federation has also banned five officials from Slovenia and Italy for between one and two years for their role in the fix.