Mae, 35, took part in a number of qualifying races for the Winter Olympics in Krvavcu, Slovenia, in January and managed to secure a place at Sochi, where she competed as Vanessa Vanakorn, the name of her Thai father. 

The validity of these races came in to question in July, however, after the Slovenian Ski Association uncovered evidence that officials had falsified times and rankings "at the behest of Thai ski officials"

As a result, the governing body imposed provisional four-year bans on four of its officials, including the head of the country's Alpine skiing body, Vlado Makuc, and launched an investigation involving the Slovenian police, with results sent to the International Ski Federation (FIS).

An FIS Hearing Panel have now found that there had been manipulation to the race results which did "not reflect the true performance of the competitors".

Vanessa Mae went on to finish last out of 67 competitors in the giant slalom event in Sochi ©Getty Images



An FIS statement added: "After considering written submissions and testimony at a hearing on October 3, 2014, the Hearing Panel found to its comfortable satisfaction that the results of the four ladies giant slalom races that took place on January 18 and 19, 2014 at Krvavec (Slovenia) were manipulated, resulting in the calculation of FIS Points that do not reflect the true performance of the competitors that participated in those events and in particular the points awarded to Vanessa Vanakorn (Mae).

"In the event that the results of the competitions are annulled, Vanessa Vanakorn (Thailand) and Frederica Selva (San Marino) would not have achieved the necessary FIS point performance level to be eligible to participate in the Olympic Winter Games.

"This information has been communicated to the International Olympic Committee (IOC)."

Mae has subsequently been banned for four years "from participation in any FIS sanctioned events worldwide," the world governing body announced.

Five officials involved in the event have also been banned by the FIS.

The decisions may be appealed either by the FIS or the participants to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne (CAS) within 21 days.

The IOC has confirmed in a statement that is "has taken note of the decision of the FIS Hearing Panel" but "for reasons of fairness of process" will not comment further until "any right to appeal has been exercised and there is a definitive final judgement"

It added: "Should the judgment be confirmed the IOC will act on this in the framework of its policy of protecting the clean athletes, with zero tolerance towards the manipulation of results and any related corruption."

Mae sat on an IOC working group for culture in June where she provided key recommendations hoped to help shape the Olympic Movement as part of IOC President Thomas Bach's Agenda 2020 programme.

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