The International Ski Federation has disqualified musician Vanessa May for four years and suspended her from participating in competitions held under the auspices of the organization. May, who took part in alpine skiing competitions at the Sochi Olympics, was punished for falsifying results in the Olympic qualifying round.
According to IOC rules, a country whose skiers are not among the top 500 in the world has the right to field one athlete each in the men's and women's categories at the Olympic Games. However, these athletes are required to take part in four qualifying Olympic competitions and show good results there.
Vanessa Mae competed in Slovenia, and the results of these particular competitions were falsified. The judges overestimated May's score, and Thai athlete was thus able to obtain the right to compete at the Olympics in Sochi.
At the Games in Russia, a violinist who performed under the last name Vanakorn (she took her father’s last name) showed worst result. Her time in the giant slalom was very different from the results she showed in Slovenia, this fact aroused suspicion among the IOC, and the Committee began an investigation, which was completed in July of this year. On July 11, the Slovenian Ski Association announced the disqualification of four officials who were punished for falsifying the results of the competition in Krvavec.
Vanessa Mae at the Olympics in Sochi. Photo by Globallookpress
The investigation was then carried out by the FIS, which published the following statement on its website on Tuesday:
“The FIS Disciplinary Committee made its decision regarding the competitions that took place in Slovenia on January 17-19. These competitions were organized at the request of Vanessa Vanakorn's management through the National Olympic Committee of Thailand. The competition in Krvavec was the last chance for Vanessa Vanakorn to get the points she needed to participate in the Olympics.
In July 2014, the executive committee of the Slovenian Ski Association admitted that the results of these competitions were falsified and punished officials who were under its jurisdiction. In addition, the falsification data was sent to FIS for further investigation.
The FIS admitted that the result shown in Slovenia by Vanessa Vanakorn (May) did not allow her to earn qualifying points for the Olympics.
The results of the competition in Slovenia were annulled, and Vanessa Vanakorn (Thailand) and Frederica Selva (San Marino) were deprived of the points they earned and were deprived of the right to compete at the Olympics after the fact.
The corresponding report will be sent to the IOC.
Vanessa Vanakorn and Frederica Selva can appeal this decision to the Sports arbitration court in Lausanne for 21 days.
FIS found the following violations committed during the competition in Krvavec:
1. The results of the competition included an athlete who did not take part in the giant slalom.
2. Another athlete was placed in second place, although she fell during the descent and lost more than 10 seconds.
3. At least one athlete did not start from the starting gate, but the gate was opened manually, after which the stopwatch automatically started. The athlete herself was already in the middle of the slope.
4. The weather conditions were so bad that the giant slalom had to be cancelled, according to a report from one of the judges.
5. An athlete who had already left the track still took part in the competition with the sole purpose of worsening the average result of the descent and thereby giving the opportunity to earn points for those athletes who showed a low result.
6. The track configuration was not changed after the first races, as required by FIS regulations.
7. 23 athletes took part in the competition on January 18, while 25 athletes were indicated in the protocol.
8. There were only 8 athletes on the starting list of the competition on January 19, and 6 athletes were listed in the final protocol.
The following persons were punished for these violations:
1. Borut Grobat (Slovenia), organizer of the competition, was disqualified for two years.
2. Fabio de Cassan (Italy), FIS technical delegate, suspended for one year.
3. Matjac Goltec (Slovenia), who was responsible for recording the results, was disqualified for one year.
4. Vlado Makuch (Slovenia), judge, disqualified for one year
5. Uroš Sinkovec (Slovenia), starting judge, disqualified for one year.
6. Vanessa Vanakorn (Thailand), athlete, suspended for four years.”
In Sochi, Vanessa Vanakorn took part in the giant slalom competition and took the last, 67th place. She showed a result of 3:26.97, while the Olympic champion Slovenian athlete Tina Maze completed the course in 2:36.87.
The violinist, who turned 36 this year, began training only six months before the Olympics. By the start of the Games in Sochi, she was ranked 2253rd in the world rankings.
Vanessa May planned to take part in the Olympics in Salt Lake City, but was unable to do so: the Thai authorities demanded that the musician renounce her British citizenship, but May did not agree with this decision.
Eight years later, May was allowed to obtain a Thai passport, while retaining British citizenship - the authorities of the Asian country made an exception for her.
Vanessa May became only the second representative of Thailand in the history of the Winter Olympics - the first was Prawat Nagwahara, who competed in skiing competitions in Salt Lake City.
Most likely, the IOC will also disqualify the athlete and cancel her results at the Olympics in Sochi.
The world-famous 35-year-old violinist and composer Vanessa May will perform at the Olympic Games in Sochi as part of the Thai national team. She will take part in skiing competitions - she will compete under her father's Thai surname Vanakorn. The violinist has been skiing since childhood, and she has been seriously preparing for the Olympics since 2010.
In fact, back in 2010, the publication wrote that May was serious about participating in the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi. Then the violinist said that this was her childhood dream.
May notes that musical success puts a certain pressure on her - she will be expected to succeed at the Olympics. She also added that she wants to perform as well as possible and hopes that people will understand her.
To become a member of the Olympic team, Vanessa Mae had to take part in a number of recognized international level sporting events, the standard of which is very high, reports the Telegraph. "People are surprised when they see me skiing. But this is my dream and I am determined to compete for the Thai team. I have no illusions about podium places or even being in the top 100," says May.
Source: Telegraph
Vanessa May has Chinese roots on her mother's side, and Thai on her father's side. The violinist was born in Singapore and grew up in the UK - her mother divorced her father and married a British man. May herself is also a British citizen, but she also has a Thai passport.
May started skiing at the age of four, but eventually she had to make a choice in favor of more serious music studies. In addition, her mother and manager at that time was afraid that while playing sports, Vanessa could injure her hands - the girl also had to give up horse riding, which she also did at one time. At the age of 21, she refused her mother’s services as a manager - it is known that there were disagreements between them, but May does not condemn her mother and speaks of her with the utmost respect.
In the musical field, the girl has achieved very great success: more than 10 million copies of her records have been sold all over the world. She received the nickname Teeny Paganini when, at the age of eight, she became the youngest student at the Beijing Conservatory (by the way, Vanessa May was also born on the same day as the great master). “I started skiing around the same time I started playing the piano, which was about four years old, and started playing the violin at five. And I was lucky that I started a music career so early. It gives me something to focus on now.” on my hobby. Of course, music will always be my greatest passion, I still have concerts. But inevitably there comes a time when it becomes a “stream”: endless tours and performances. By the age of 20, I had already stopped enjoying it to the fullest. ", - the Telegraph reports the words of Vanessa May.
Last year, the violinist announced that she would take a break from her musical career for a year in order to prepare as seriously as possible for the Olympics. But she also said that she intends to return to music later.
In general, the 2014 Olympic Games are becoming a chance to fulfill a childhood dream for many people. In particular, an American investor and entrepreneur - he will participate in ski racing. Bregel’s skiing experience, in his own words, before the start of preparations for the Games was extremely small. However, for him, too, the main thing is not victory, but participation. For this, he even received Colombian citizenship.
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13 July 2014, 19:03Childhood dream
Story Winter Olympics in Sochi was replenished with scandal. As it turned out, one of the participants may have gotten into the competition not thanks to her sporting merits, but with the help of a real scam.
We are not talking about anyone, but about the famous English violinist Vanessa May.
Not all fans of her musical talent knew about her passion for skiing. Meanwhile, Vanessa has been involved in this sport since she was four years old. Already in adulthood, Mrs. May decided to embrace the immensity and add sports fame to her success in music.
No, Vanessa Mae did not intend to become a champion, her dream was simply to compete at the Olympics.
The violinist planned to realize her dream under the flag of Thailand, since Vanessa Mae’s own father is Thai.
Since alpine skiing is not developed in Thailand, Mrs. May had no rivals in sight. However, difficulties of a different kind arose. Before the 2002 Olympics, Vanessa May's application was rejected by the Thai authorities, requiring her to renounce her British citizenship.
The violinist made a new attempt in 2010, and this time she was treated more favorably - she received the right to represent Thailand under her father’s name Vanakorn.
Vanessa Mae on XXII winter Olympic Games in Sochi. 2014
Last minute trip
The joy, however, was premature. The fact is that, according to the rules of the International Ski Federation, to compete at the Olympics you must obtain an Olympic license by gaining a certain number of points at the World Cup stages.
This rule was adopted to prevent outright freaks or, given the type of sport, individuals with a penchant for public suicide from infiltrating the Games.
In 2013, Vanessa Mae tried to fulfill the conditions by performing at tournaments in Australia and New Zealand, but the result was a failure - the violinist was disqualified in her first attempt.
There was less and less time left before the Olympics, and many decided that Vanessa’s dream would never come true.
However, in January 2014, at the World Cup in Slovenia, Vanessa May-Vanakorn unexpectedly performed Olympic standard and received the right to travel to Sochi!
Naturally, the famous violinist was watched with genuine interest at the Games.
As a result, Thai alpine skier Vanessa Vanakorn, who competed in the giant slalom, took the last, 67th place. True, Vanessa finished in both attempts, while more than twenty athletes did not reach the finish line. At the same time, she lost to the winner by more than 50 seconds, which by the standards of alpine skiing is not even an eternity, but something more.
Nevertheless, Mrs. May remained pleased with herself and even announced her desire to compete at the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang.
Vanessa Vanakorn on the giant slalom course in her first attempt at the competition skiing at the XXII Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. 2014
Exposure session followed by disqualification
Perhaps this would have happened, but, as it turned out, representatives of the Slovenian Ski Federation were also watching the successes of the violinist-skier in Sochi.
Officials were alarmed by the time shown by Vanessa May in Sochi - it did not fit close to the Olympic standard, which she fulfilled at the Slovenian stage of the World Cup.
The investigation that began led to disappointing conclusions - the famous violinist fulfilled her dream thanks to falsification.
It turned out that the result for getting into Sochi was ensured by the efforts of the competition director Borut Hrobat, chief judge Vlado Makuts, timekeepers Matjaz Goltec and Tugo Marinček, acting at the request of a certain Thai company that wanted to help Mrs. May.
Now each of the four who participated in the conspiracy received four years of disqualification.
As for Vanessa Mae herself, the incident is unlikely to affect her musical career. But alpine skier Vanessa Vanakorn most likely will not have a second Olympics. The International Olympic Committee does not approve of cheating.
Vanessa Mae has two passions in her life - music and... skiing. The star violinist has been practicing this sport since childhood and finally, she qualified for the Olympic Games. Although at first her mother wanted to ban this hobby.
In general, this news should not be surprising: Vanessa May will compete at the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi in slalom and giant slalom. 35-year-old May started skiing at the age of four - a year earlier than when she first held a violin in her hands.
However, getting a violin lesson in London is much easier than finding a ski slope. This is how Vanessa-Mae Vanakorn Nicholson first became a world-famous musician and one of the highest paid artists in Great Britain. And only now, in addition to this, she is a participant in the Olympic Games.
Although the official results are not yet known, May's coach is full of confidence: "She finally qualified at the weekend in Slovenia," Giles Holland told the BBC. “The moments determined everything, but she still did it – and that’s the most important thing.” And Thassanai Mukkavichit, head of public relations for the NOC of Thailand, happily said: “We received confirmation by phone. As soon as we receive an official confirmation letter, we will announce this."
Thus, May will become the second representative of Thailand at the Winter Olympic Games after Prawat Nagwahara, who took part in multi-kilometer cross-country skiing races in Salt Lake City in 2002 and in Turin in 2006.
Since Thai skiers are not represented in the top 500, the country is allowed to enter one male and one female athlete each if they score no more than 140 points in the four official events during the Olympic winter. This indicator is based on the difficulty level of the route and the time it takes to complete it. According to the International Ski Federation, May managed to fulfill this qualification standard during the competition in Kravec, Slovenia, where she competed under her father's name (Vanakorn).
Vanessa Mae has been chasing her sports dream since 2009, and especially for this she moved from London to Zermatt, Switzerland. In 2010, the world-famous violinist voiced her ambitions. Then she said in an interview with the British Telegraph: “Music has been my passion all my life, and skiing has been my lifelong hobby.”
Already from three years the daughter of Thai Vorapong Wanakorn and Chinese pianist Pamela Soi Lan Tan received piano lessons, and two years later she held a violin in her hands for the first time - again at the insistence of her ambitious and authoritarian mother. At age 8 she was the youngest student at the Beijing Central Conservatory, at 13 she became the youngest soloist to record Beethoven's concertos, and throughout her career she has already sold more than 10 million records.
Her mother wanted to ban her from skiing
But since 2007, not a single Vanessa Mae album has appeared and she has not given concerts for a year now. Her old life, as she said in a 2010 interview with the Telegraph, had become a rat race and had become a burden to her. A year later, there was a separation from his mother as a manager. That break was connected, among other things, with her daughter’s passion for skiing: the mother did not understand this hobby and wanted to ban this activity because she considered the risk of injury to be too great.
"Of course there is a risk of injury, but life is short and you have to do what you enjoy," Vanessa May told the BBC. She actually broke her elbow while practicing some time ago, but despite this, she had no fears for her music career: “I was more worried about the scar that would be left after the operation,” she said.
Since she set her goal to participate in the Olympic Games, every day at 5.30 am she is already on the ski slopes. But no matter how much she trains, she is unlikely to ever have a chance of achieving high places: “Even entering the top 100 is unrealistic,” May soberly assesses her strength. Likewise, a place in the Great Britain team would be an unattainable goal, so she will play for her father’s team, fortunately she has a Thai passport. “I would like to take part in the Olympic Games as part of the Thai team because this is a part of my life that I have never dedicated myself to before: being Thai.”
Well, after Sochi, May wants to devote herself again to her first career: “The Olympics are great, but the most beautiful thing for me is standing on stage and playing the violin.”
Translation: Ilya Koval
On Tuesday, February 18th Famous violinist Vanessa Mae will make her debut at the Olympics in Sochi.
The newly minted athlete took part in the giant slalom among alpine skiers. In the first race she finished 74th overall.
I’m happy just because I was able to cover the entire distance from start to finish and didn’t get lost. The experience that I gained from participating in the Olympics is priceless,” the violinist admitted.
The performer competed for Thailand under her father's last name - Vanakorn.
The second attempt took place a little later, not the 30 best athletes were allowed to participate in it, as at the World Cup stages, but all the participants who reached the finish line on the first route
As a result, the Slovenian alpine skier Tina Maze arrived first. She became a double Olympic champion Sochi. The winner's result is 2:36.87.
Second place in the sum of two runs was taken by Anna Fenninger (+0.07) from Austria, and third place by German Victoria Resensburg (+0.27).
The only Russian woman in this event, Maria Bedareva, was 40th after the first attempt, and in the final protocol she is listed as a “non-finisher.”
But Vanessa Mae showed the worst result among all participants, but this did not upset either herself or her fans. She left the track in a great mood and to thunderous applause.
If we talk about the technique of Vanessa, who rides alpine skiing from the age of 4, she descended very confidently, better than most dummies. She has correct stance with an angular position, a competent trajectory of the route. But she's driving too slowly. At least in comparison with the leaders who rush like crazy.
May previously said that she had the right to compete at the 2014 Games for Team Great Britain because, after her parents' divorce, she went with her mother to live in the United Kingdom at the age of four. However, as the violinist admits, she had little chance of getting there.
My first musical success came to me at the age of 13. Then I played Tchaikovsky. And then I began to realize that my career was developing rapidly. Now this is a new challenge. And I hope that I will achieve the same results in sports career, - said May.
Meanwhile, according to the rules of the Olympics, countries not represented in the top 500 of the world alpine skiing rankings, which does not include Thailand, have the right to enter one alpine skier and one alpine skier. At the same time, athletes must fulfill the conditions for qualifying at the second level, which May did at the competition in Slovenia. At the Olympics in Sochi, the violinist will perform in giant slalom.
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Vanessa Mae- world famous violinist and composer. She is famous mainly for her techno adaptations of classical compositions. Performance style: techno-acoustic fusion or pop violin.
Chinese on mother's side, Thai on father's side. When Vanessa was 4 years old, her parents divorced and her mother took her daughter to the UK. After the move, her mother married an English lawyer, Graham Nicholson.
She began studying music at the age of three, but then the main instrument was the piano. Later, my stepfather asked me to pick up the violin and accompany him.
Vanessa's first performance was at the age of nine. She played with the Philharmonic Orchestra when she was ten. Vanessa was the youngest student at the Royal College of Music.
