The 35-year-old was found to have competed in four fixed qualifying races in Krvavcu, Slovenia, thus enabling her to qualify to compete at the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

Representing Thailand and competing under her fathers surname of Vanessa Vanakorn,she then finished in 67th and last place in the women's giant slalom, but received huge praise for transitioning her musical skills to a new environment.

But after weeks of suspicion, an FIS hearing on Tuesday (November 11) found the four races in Krvavcu, all between January 17 and 19 and organised at the request of Mae's management through the Olympic Committee of Thailand,  were "manipulated". 

In a statement issued by her management team, Mae had dismissed the sanctions as "nonsense" and vowed to turn a "nasty experience" into a "positive".

Vanessa Mae meeting IOC President Thomas Bach shortly before the beginning of Sochi 2014 ©Getty Images



The case is now in the hands of her attorneys, it was added, with plans already in motion to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport".

She has 18 more days to formally lodge this appeal to CAS before her time runs out.

The International Olympic Committee, meanwhile, has confirmed in a statement that it "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".

The incident will be a particular concern to the IOC because Mae sat on a 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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