All smiles for Vanessa Mae despite violinist finishing LAST on Olympic skiing debut

[webfact]

All smiles for Vanessa Mae despite violinist finishing LAST on Olympic skiing debut
By MALCOLM FOLLEY


Brave: The musician has said the chance to participate in the Olympics was worth the risk of injury

SOCHI: -- She arrived at these Olympics as Vanessa Mae, a classical violinist invited to dine with Vladimir Putin at the gala dinner on the eve of these Games.

On Tuesday, she finished them as Vanessa Vanakorn, the slowest skier at these Olympics.

With visibility far from perfect for the Ladies’ Giant Slalom, she skied the second - and final run - of her Olympic career with a gentle, carefully-plotted route between the flag poles denoting the course.

At 5ft 3in, she looked a diminutive doll-like figure compared to the athletic and muscular women for whom this sport is a profession.

As Miss Vanakorn crossed the line she threw her arms aloft; and, presumably, transformed herself back to being Vanessa Mae.

Full story: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/winterolympics/article-2561900/WINTER-OLYMPICS-2014-All-smiles-British-violinist-Vanessa-Mae-despite-finishing-dead-Giant-Slalom.html

-- Daily Mail 2014-02-19

[BradWalker]

Vanessa Mae is my ideal woman.

[abhaya]

I don't think she is even a Thai citizen. She can't speak Thai and grew up in the U.K. and got to the Olympics just because of her looks and tenuous connection to Thailand, it is really disrespectful that she was allowed to compete with real atheletes who have trained a better part of their lives to achieve this goal.

[tomyummer]

Making a mockery of the sport, the serious athletes, and the Olympics, not to mention dragging Thailand to be last.

People always using Thailand when they can't cut it in their own countries.

[focus27]

The Daily Mail URL is amusing:

dailymail.co.uk/.../WINTER-OLYMPICS-2014-All-smiles-British-violinist-Vanessa-Mae-despite-finishing-dead-Giant-Slalom.html

[greg71]

Maybe in the next summer olympics she be able to represent Singapore in high jump ..

[Jip99]

It is surely an Eddie the Eagle moment.

[webfact]

Vanessa Mae's father is Thai. She's holding dual citizenship.

[TheWizardofRnR]

She does Fiddle around ,quite well !

[jonclark]

I think she needs to learn how to sit on a chair properly first!

Edited February 19, 2014 by jonclark

[canman]

I don't think she is even a Thai citizen. She can't speak Thai and grew up in the U.K. and got to the Olympics just because of her looks and tenuous connection to Thailand, it is really disrespectful that she was allowed to compete with real atheletes who have trained a better part of their lives to achieve this goal.

Nothing disrespectful at all. I think you should look at the offical olympic website to get an understanding about what exactly the olympic ethic and ideal is. One thing it is not supposed to be is an elitist sports competion for those who strive to succeed for a big paycheck from endorsements.

As I understand it she has a Thai parent and dual citizenship so is entitled to compete for Thailand. Plenty of countries bring in ringers with no connection at all to that country, give them a passport and let them compete.

[NongKhaiKid]

I don't think she is even a Thai citizen. She can't speak Thai and grew up in the U.K. and got to the Olympics just because of her looks and tenuous connection to Thailand, it is really disrespectful that she was allowed to compete with real atheletes who have trained a better part of their lives to achieve this goal.

She has British citizenship etc courtesy of her step father. Years ago she did a concert tour under the title ' China Girl ' and now re-discovers her Thai heritage for the Olympics.

I don't know how involved the Thai Olympic Committee was in this but so far haven't spoken to a single Thai who knows who she is. I do understand the lack of interest in the Winter Olympics though.

I remember only too well the disgraceful Zola Budd situation when the British Olympic Committee simply grovelled to get her to compete since Sth. Africa was banned at the time.

She was given a passport because her father was English, she won nothing and when the games were over went straight back to Sth. Africa.

[jonclark]

I don't think she is even a Thai citizen. She can't speak Thai and grew up in the U.K. and got to the Olympics just because of her looks and tenuous connection to Thailand, it is really disrespectful that she was allowed to compete with real atheletes who have trained a better part of their lives to achieve this goal.

Nothing disrespectful at all. I think you should look at the offical olympic website to get an understanding about what exactly the olympic ethic and ideal is. One thing it is not supposed to be is an elitist sports competion for those who strive to succeed for a big paycheck from endorsements.

As I understand it she has a Thai parent and dual citizenship so is entitled to compete for Thailand. Plenty of countries bring in ringers with no connection at all to that country, give them a passport and let them compete.

canman - don't you dare call it an "elitist sports competition" - You'll have the UDD / red shirts all over it with cries of 'double standards'

Edited February 19, 2014 by jonclark

[howzat]

Don't worry guys because the world doesn't care about Thailand because Thailand doesn't care or even know what is going on in the rest of the world. They its called xenophobia isn't it.

[goatfarmer]

At least she is consistent: athletic with musical abilities.

[Prbkk]

Making a mockery of the sport, the serious athletes, and the Olympics, not to mention dragging Thailand to be last.

People always using Thailand when they can't cut it in their own countries.

Absolute rubbish. She is qualified to represent Thailand, has trained for years to achieve this, did her best. There is no shame in coming last..in fact, it is a time-honoured tradition at the Olympics that the person coming last gets as much of a cheer from the crowd as the winner, celebrating the efforts in even getting that far. Well done, Vanessa Mae !!

[GentlemanJim]

I don't think she is even a Thai citizen. She can't speak Thai and grew up in the U.K. and got to the Olympics just because of her looks and tenuous connection to Thailand, it is really disrespectful that she was allowed to compete with real atheletes who have trained a better part of their lives to achieve this goal.

Making a mockery of the sport, the serious athletes, and the Olympics, not to mention dragging Thailand to be last.

People always using Thailand when they can't cut it in their own countries.

Both posts complete and utter tripe. The Olympics is/was for everybody, and for anyone to get off their fat ass and enter (they DO have to pass a minimum time trial standard to be allowed to participate), then good on them. She has put in a great deal of training for this which is no mean feat in between her music career. I guess if there was an olympic sport for procrastinating whilst sat at a computer with a large bag of crisps and 6 cans of beer a night you two would be in top medal position.

She is a Thai citizen and got to the Olympics because she went through the trials and passed. Nothing to do with good looks (but what a bonus she has them!). All a bit like Winter Olympic teams from any other country without snow, in that competition for a team place is not going to be that tough, but non the less you have to pass a minimum international standard to get in to represent a nation.

I bet you two are the kind of folks that think the driver in grid position number 21 in a grand prix is a sh*t driver, yet the time difference between pole and 21 might be 1.2 seconds. Get off back to training then, another bag of crisps and some buttered toast with a few nice cups of sugary tea.

[Donnie Brasco]

Naked slalom ? Unshaven ?

GOLD

(and heaps more of that "cute-Asian-chick" attention she grinds for)

"Sometimes, 'fuggedabowdit' just means fuggedabowdit."

[Soutpeel]

I don't think she is even a Thai citizen. She can't speak Thai and grew up in the U.K. and got to the Olympics just because of her looks and tenuous connection to Thailand, it is really disrespectful that she was allowed to compete with real atheletes who have trained a better part of their lives to achieve this goal.

I believe her father is Thai, so hardly tenuous, she has stonger Thai connections than large numbers farangs living in Thailand who claim to be Thaier than Thai.

I suppose we could cite Zola Budd, the runner as well, although born and growing up in South Africa, and even representing SA, she ran in the olympics for Britain under similar "tenuous" connections to the UK - No different

She had a goal/dream to ski in the olympics...she got to realise this goal, it has nothing to do with were she placed and in the same vein should we not mention "Eddy the Eagle" or a certain Jamacian bobsled team ?...same thing

Hardly making a mockery of sport, Thailand or the Olympics...the precedent was set a long time ago...way before Vanessa Mae

[Suriya4]

I don't think she is even a Thai citizen. She can't speak Thai and grew up in the U.K. and got to the Olympics just because of her looks and tenuous connection to Thailand, it is really disrespectful that she was allowed to compete with real atheletes who have trained a better part of their lives to achieve this goal.

Same same, so if a British expat live in Thailand, children all born in Thailand and goes to Bangkok Patana School in Bangkok, should NOT be allowed a British Citizen? Com on.

She did not cheat. She met the rules and qualified. Someone have to be last in every games.

[CelticBhoy]

^GJ making more friends . . . while sticking up for a loser.

[tomyummer]

Making a mockery of the sport, the serious athletes, and the Olympics, not to mention dragging Thailand to be last.

People always using Thailand when they can't cut it in their own countries.

Absolute rubbish. She is qualified to represent Thailand, has trained for years to achieve this, did her best. There is no shame in coming last..in fact, it is a time-honoured tradition at the Olympics that the person coming last gets as much of a cheer from the crowd as the winner, celebrating the efforts in even getting that far. Well done, Vanessa Mae !!

Trained years during family vacations at posh ski resorts. Any serious recreational skier could qualify for Thailand at B class. Just another personal attention story. Makes her only other compatriot Sucharitakul look like a joke. Why not represent the UK? Leave real aspiring Thai athletes for real Thais.

Stick to the violin.

[timber]

Gutsy lady. After all that deserves a metal for something

[Robby nz]

Considering that there were 20 or so others who fell over and did not finish then she did not really come last.

She was the last one who finished, sure, but just getting there and finishing, is an achievement in its self.

I really wonder about those who post on here just to slag off at her.

Have any of you ever attempted anything difficult in your life and achieved it ?

Probably not.

[tomyummer]

I don't think she is even a Thai citizen. She can't speak Thai and grew up in the U.K. and got to the Olympics just because of her looks and tenuous connection to Thailand, it is really disrespectful that she was allowed to compete with real atheletes who have trained a better part of their lives to achieve this goal.

Making a mockery of the sport, the serious athletes, and the Olympics, not to mention dragging Thailand to be last.

People always using Thailand when they can't cut it in their own countries.

Both posts complete and utter tripe. The Olympics is/was for everybody, and for anyone to get off their fat ass and enter (they DO have to pass a minimum time trial standard to be allowed to participate), then good on them. She has put in a great deal of training for this which is no mean feat in between her music career. I guess if there was an olympic sport for procrastinating whilst sat at a computer with a large bag of crisps and 6 cans of beer a night you two would be in top medal position.

She is a Thai citizen and got to the Olympics because she went through the trials and passed. Nothing to do with good looks (but what a bonus she has them!). All a bit like Winter Olympic teams from any other country without snow, in that competition for a team place is not going to be that tough, but non the less you have to pass a minimum international standard to get in to represent a nation.

I bet you two are the kind of folks that think the driver in grid position number 21 in a grand prix is a sh*t driver, yet the time difference between pole and 21 might be 1.2 seconds. Get off back to training then, another bag of crisps and some buttered toast with a few nice cups of sugary tea.

Comparing this to a grand prix? You've got to be kidding. Now pass over those crisps, you're hogging them.

[bonobo]

The Jamaican bobsled team, which is cheered on by people around the world, finished last in these Olympics. Someone has to finish last, after all, in each and every event.

[Thaddeus]

Making a mockery of the sport, the serious athletes, and the Olympics, not to mention dragging Thailand to be last.

People always using Thailand when they can't cut it in their own countries.

Absolute rubbish. She is qualified to represent Thailand, has trained for years to achieve this, did her best. There is no shame in coming last..in fact, it is a time-honoured tradition at the Olympics that the person coming last gets as much of a cheer from the crowd as the winner, celebrating the efforts in even getting that far. Well done, Vanessa Mae !!

That's a good summation of "Thainess"

[noitom]

I don't think she is even a Thai citizen. She can't speak Thai and grew up in the U.K. and got to the Olympics just because of her looks and tenuous connection to Thailand, it is really disrespectful that she was allowed to compete with real atheletes who have trained a better part of their lives to achieve this goal.

It is a real shame that Thailand with all of its elite wealth couldn't field a real athletic competitor. Rather instead they put this show girl up and look at her pose and picture. It makes a mockery out of Olympic athletic competition. It shows what the Thais are all about. It doesn't even show her in a pose with her violin.

[MMarlow]

^GJ making more friends . . . while sticking up for a loser.

You've just confirmed yourself as the biggest loser on this thread.

[bobonzo]

Haters gonna hate. Good for her for training and competing.