Celebrity Olympian Vanessa-Mae banned after race-fixing scandal
Violinist barred for four years from events after taking part in races that were fixed to qualify her for the Sochi Winter Games
Pop violinist Vanessa-Mae was banned from competitive skiing for four years on Tuesday for taking part in races that were fixed to allow her to qualify for the Winter Olympics in Sochi.
The findings by the International Ski Federation (FIS) exposed as a sham what many fans thought was a feel-good celebrity Olympic story.
It also banned five officials from Slovenia and Italy for between one and two years for their role in the scandal.
At first we were laughing when we heard it. But then we realised it's quite a serious thing
"Those who have been sanctioned have been sanctioned for good reason," FIS president Gian Franco Kasper said. "At first we were laughing when we heard it. But then we realised it's quite a serious thing."
FIS said its hearing panel "found to its comfortable satisfaction" that the status of four women's giant slalom races were manipulated in January in Slovenia, weeks before the Games.
FIS detailed several rule-breaking incidents that rigged results to help Vanessa-Mae falsely improve her results near the Olympic entry deadline.
Without the cheating orchestrated by her managers, Vanessa-Mae "would not have achieved the necessary FIS point performance level to be eligible to participate in the Olympic Winter Games", the body said.
In February at the Sochi Games, the celebrity musician who was raised in Britain raced for Thailand as Vanessa Vanakorn, using the last name of her Thai father. She finished last of 67 racers in the giant slalom.