Vanessa-Mae: Skiing violinist banned for four years

[Lite Beer]

Vanessa-Mae: Skiing violinist banned for four years

BANGKOK: -- Violinist Vanessa-Mae has been banned from skiing for four years after results were manipulated to help her qualify for the Sochi Winter Olympics.

An International Ski Federation (FIS) hearing panel found "violations" in the Thailand skier's results at an event in Slovenia.

The British citizen, 36, qualified days before the deadline after competing in the hastily-staged races in January.

Five officials involved in the event have also been banned by the FIS.
The competitions in Slovenia were organised at the request of the management of the skier, through the Thai Olympic Committee.

Competing as Vanessa Vanakorn, she went on to finish last of 67 competitors in the giant slalom at the Sochi Games, 50 seconds adrift of winner Tina Maze.

FIS said in a statement: "The hearing panel found to its comfortable satisfaction that the results of the four ladies giant slalom races that took place on 18 and 19 January at Krvavec were manipulated."

Read More: http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/winter-sports/30005830

-- BBC 2014-11-11

[mesquite]

Hmmm..A Thai woman who's a scammer. Fancy that.

Edited November 11, 2014 by mesquite

[plachon]

I guess she's achieved her goal of being remembered as a world class fiddler now.

But bang goes the skiing career and not a great addition to her CV.

I did have quite a bit of admiration initially for her inclusion in the Olympics, but now I know how it was achieved, it leaves a sour taste about her sense of entitlement.

[dickyknee]

Hmmm..A Thai woman who's a scammer. Fancy that.

she's half Thai.

[kotsak]

Hmmm..A Thai woman who's a scammer. Fancy that.

she's half Thai.

Seems Thainess cannot be diluted

[trainman34014]

Should have been banned for life. A cheat is a cheat...period.

[Thai at Heart]

She pulled this off with zero assistance from the Thai Olympic team

What a joke

[JetsetBkk]

She's good at fiddling.

[BuckBee]

Should have been banned for life. A cheat is a cheat...period.

+1

same for politics too ...

[Artisi]

Did she cheat or did someone cheat on her behalf unbeknown to herself?

[dickyknee]

Hmmm..A Thai woman who's a scammer. Fancy that.

she's half Thai.

Seems Thainess cannot be diluted

that depends on the solvent.

[RobSmith]

C'mon people.

She was brought up in the UK by a British Lawyer since the age of 4.

Cheating the system was not that percentage of Thai or Chinese in her DNA -- it's institutionalized Britishness - A british lawyer step dad would be great training.

We are the culture of benefit fraud, this must of been child's play, and she fulfilled a childhood dream, bless.

P.S. still think she is hot!

[Bluespunk]

Should have been banned for life. A cheat is a cheat...period.

Well as she cheated to gain qualification in the first place, 4 years or life, makes little difference to her career.

It's clear she's not good enough to compete at a major level.

[JOC]

Hmmm..A Thai woman who's a scammer. Fancy that.

she's half Thai.

Yes but did you see, where the other 50% came from??

[greenfox]

Didn't the Thais push to get her qualified.

The Olympic committee obviously isn't FIFA.

[dickyknee]

Hmmm..A Thai woman who's a scammer. Fancy that.

she's half Thai.

Yes but did you see, where the other 50% came from??

my sarcasm gets lost sometimes.

[darrendsd]

Did she cheat or did someone cheat on her behalf unbeknown to herself?

Exactly

Reading the full story (something that seems to elude the vast majority of TV posters before they scramble to their keyboard to slag Thais off) I doubt very much that she could have manipulated the results of 4 races all on her own

There is also no mention of her personally doing so

But hey ho the Thai bashers are sat with their pants down with tissues scattered around them happy that they have managed to post their daily Thai bashing.

[Expattaff1308]

Did she cheat or did someone cheat on her behalf unbeknown to herself?

Exactly

Reading the full story (something that seems to elude the vast majority of TV posters before they scramble to their keyboard to slag Thais off) I doubt very much that she could have manipulated the results of 4 races all on her own

There is also no mention of her personally doing so

But hey ho the Thai bashers are sat with their pants down with tissues scattered around them happy that they have managed to post their daily Thai bashing.

I think you got that spot on....this should bring them out, not that it takes much!

[arunsakda]

Did she go to boarding school in Switzerland? 50 seconds off a winning time, must be a pretty strong skier.

Edited November 11, 2014 by arunsakda

[bangkokfrog]

Did she cheat or did someone cheat on her behalf unbeknown to herself?

No way she could not have known about it.

So sad... a wonderful musical talent whose image will forever be tainted by "Thainess".

[dickyknee]

Did she cheat or did someone cheat on her behalf unbeknown to herself?

Exactly

Reading the full story (something that seems to elude the vast majority of TV posters before they scramble to their keyboard to slag Thais off) I doubt very much that she could have manipulated the results of 4 races all on her own

There is also no mention of her personally doing so

But hey ho the Thai bashers are sat with their pants down with tissues scattered around them happy that they have managed to post their daily Thai bashing.

you're not suggesting that, not only did she need help getting to the Olympics, that she also needed help to get help to get to the Olympics?

Who's needs the tissues?

Edited November 11, 2014 by dickyknee

[dabhand]

Hardly the crime of the century.

Really think that the Olympics should allow all countries to have at least one competitor per games. As long as safety issues are covered in the more technical sports, fail to see the harm. Sure they do this at the summer games judging by some of the competitors in the sprints.

I think that the more rigid qualification rules for the winter games came in due to Eddie the eagle. The focus on his (non)performance - despite having had some previous jumping experience - was too much for some of the 'stuck-ups' running the games.

Of course, having a separate qualification for being 'hot' would have solved the problem!!

[ClutchClark]

Hmmm..A Thai woman who's a scammer. Fancy that.

she's half Thai.

Seems Thainess cannot be diluted

Yep, just lime that Thai bicyclist found cheating...Lance Armstrong.

;-)

[Beetlejuice]

How can anyone ski while playing the violin?

[pisico]

Hmmm..A Thai woman who's a scammer. Fancy that.

No, no she did not do anything wrong. It was the Thai Olympic committee. The committee said it was the fault of her handlers for not to explaining how well she played er... skied since she was a toddler. Somebody else must have been at fault. Anyway, she is half Thai. Affected only by 50% of Thainess.

[doremifasol]

Now that she is in disgrace Thais will predictably disown her.

[dickyknee]

Hardly the crime of the century.

Really think that the Olympics should allow all countries to have at least one competitor per games. As long as safety issues are covered in the more technical sports, fail to see the harm. Sure they do this at the summer games judging by some of the competitors in the sprints.

I think that the more rigid qualification rules for the winter games came in due to Eddie the eagle. The focus on his (non)performance - despite having had some previous jumping experience - was too much for some of the 'stuck-ups' running the games.

Of course, having a separate qualification for being 'hot' would have solved the problem!!

I always thought they should do the same for American Ninja Warrior.

[fabianfred]

This is all gossip ...people on here assume so much. We have no idea what the real story was so just helping to spread rumours is just ignorant. Perhaps she is just the victim.

[RandomSand]

She's a real stunner, lovely to look at, and nimble too by the looks of her...

In the second photo, "Asian cowgirl" pose, doesn't seem to be any challenge for the talented Vanessa-Mae.

Edited November 11, 2014 by RandomSand

[mrtoad]

I am not sure that she was complicit in the cheating. Given the history of the Thai Sports Authority cheating and corruption is allegedly quite normal practice.