Vanessa-Mae Launches Appeal to Sport's Court of Arbitration Over Skiing Ban

It has been announced today that Vanessa-Mae has made a formal appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the four-year ban, imposed on her by the International Ski Federation last month, for race fixing.

The classical violinist, who competed in the giant slalom for Thailand at the 2014 Winter Olympics under her father's surname 'Vanessa Vanakorn', was found guilty by the International Ski Federation for taking part in races which were fixed to help her quality for the Sochi event.

“The court has received two appeals from Ms Vanessa Vanakorn, filed against the decisions taken by the hearing panel of the International Ski Federation (FIS) of 6 November 2014 and by the FIS Council on 18 November 2014, in relation to her qualification for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games,” an Executive for the Court of Arbitration of Sport has said in a statement.

The 36 year old musician finished last of 74 competitors in the ladies’ two-run giant slalom at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

On November 6 of this year, the International Ski Federation hearing ruled that the results of four giant slalom qualifying races, that took place on the 18th and 19th of January at Krvavec, Slovenia were falsely inflated to artificially boost Vanessa-Mae's standing as a potential Olympian.

The International Ski Federation also banned five officials from Slovenia and Italy for between one and two years for their role in the fix.

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Vanessa-Mae Banned From International Skiing for Pre-Olympic Race Fixing

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