Violinist Vanessa-Mae‘s name could be “erased from the list of participants” at the Sochi Olympics if her four-year ban for taking part in rigged qualifying races holds up through her appeal, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said, according to German press agency DPA.
“She would be excluded from the Olympic Games retroactively, and her name erased from the list of participants,” Bach told Germany‘s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, according to DPA.
Vanessa-Mae, who skied in Sochi for Thailand as Vanessa Vanakorn, was banned four years by the International Ski Federation (FIS) on Nov. 11 for taking part in “manipulated” races that got her into the Winter Games.
She was last among 67 finishers in the Olympic giant slalom, 11.35 seconds behind the 66th-place finisher and 50.1 seconds behind winner Tina Maze.
Vanessa-Mae, 36, called the ban “nonsense” last week and said she would appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Vanessa-Mae is also part of a working group for the IOC’s Agenda 2020. Bach said she has not taken part in any group meetings, and that he had not considered taking her off the group, according to the German report.