The International Ski Federation (FIS) announced on the 11th that Vanessa-Mae, a half-Chinese violinist who represented Thailand in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics earlier this year, is suspected of manipulating competitions to secure her Olympic qualification and will be banned from participating in any FIS-sanctioned events for the next four years.
Vanessa-Mae competing in the Sochi Winter Olympics
FIS stated that the Winter Olympics qualification event held in Slovenia from January 18 to 19, 2014, was suspected of being “manipulated,” with the scoring results “not reflecting the true abilities of the competitors,” “especially Vanessa-Mae’s individual scores.”
FIS claimed that there were numerous suspicious elements in the women’s alpine super-G skiing event held on the 19th, including unregistered athletes having recorded results and competitors entering the course before the starting gate was opened.
In addition to Vanessa-Mae, FIS also handed a two-year ban to a Slovenian judge involved in that race, while four others, including an FIS technical delegate, received one-year bans.