Advertisement

Alpine skiing-Violinist Mae gets four-year ban over manipulation

BERNE, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Pop violinist Vanessa Mae has been banned by the International Ski Federation (FIS) for four years over the manipulation of giant slalom races which allowed her to qualify for the Sochi Olympic Games. An FIS panel also banned five officials for between one and two years over the four giant slalom races which took place at Krvavec in Slovenia in January and were organised at the request of Mae's manager. "The Hearing Panel found to its comfortable satisfaction that the results of the four ladies giant slalom races that took place on Jan 18 and 19 at Krvavec were manipulated," said the FIS in a statement. The manipulation resulted 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, a British citizen, competed for Thailand at the Games in Russia in February under her father's surname of Vanakorn, finishing a distant last of the 67 finishers in the giant slalom. (Writing by Brian Homewood; Editing by Ken Ferris)