Vanessa-Mae banned from competitive skiing after rigged race

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By any measure, Vanessa Vanakorn — known to classical music fans as violinist Vanessa-Mae — is a woman of many talents, a highly skilled athlete as well as a musician. She's not quite as multi-talented as Olympic officials were led to believe, though.

That's the ruling of a International Ski Federation (FIS) panel that found "violations" in her results at a January event that qualified Vanessa-Mae for the Sochi Olympics — where she ultimately placed last among 67 competitors, reports BBC Sport. The qualifying event, held in Slovenia, was held in untenable weather conditions, the panel found — and yet results were reported, rife with errors including the reported presence of a competitor who wasn't actually there and another competitor whose fall on the snow seems to have been forgiven, with ten seconds subtracted from her reported time.

The FIS has banned Vanessa-Mae and others — including five officials who presided at the event — from participating in competitive skiing for four years. The International Olympic Committee may also take action, after the FIS hears any appeals.

Update 11/17: Vanessa-Mae has announced that she plans to contest the ban, which she calls "nonsensical."

Last year, Vanessa-Mae announced that she was putting her successful music career on hold to pursue competitive skiing. "People are surprised when they see me skiing — a classical violinist," she said. "But it has been my dream to be a ski bum since I was 14. This is something I am determined to do."

In addition to her classical performances, Vanessa-Mae played violin on several tracks of Prince's 2003 instrumental album Xpectation, recording her tracks at Prince's Paisley Park studio in Chanhassen in 2001.