Pop violinist Vanessa-Mae cleared in fixing case

The court lifted the four-year ban imposed on the celebrity athlete by the International Ski Federation, meaning she can try to qualify for the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Pop violinist Vanessa-Mae was cleared by sport’s highest court Friday of allegations she helped fix Alpine skiing races so she could qualify for the Sochi Olympics.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport, however, upheld the ruling that Vanessa-Mae should have been ineligible for the 2014 Games because the qualifying events in Slovenia were “so defective.”

The court lifted the four-year ban imposed on the celebrity athlete by the International Ski Federation, meaning she can try to qualify for the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

The CAS judging panel said “a number of irregularities had occurred in the organisation and management of the four races” in January 2014 which helped Vanessa-Mae accumulate the points needed to qualify for the Sochi Games.

The rigging included inventing times for skiers who did not race and faking times for skiers who did finish.

However, the court said there was no direct evidence to implicate Vanessa-Mae in fixing.

She had denied wrongdoing and called the sanctions “nonsensical.”