Chiang Rai News
Thailand’s Vanessa-Mae (Vanakorn) Places 67th at Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics
SOCHI – Vanessa-Mae (Vanakorn) made her eagerly awaited debut on the Olympic skiing stage here today, offering a performance which was tame, safe, a rare old struggle and very, very slow. Still, it was one which evidently delighted the international superstar musician.
Vanessa Mae celebrates after crossing the finish lineThe 35 year-old London-raised pop violinist, competing for Thailand as Vanessa Vanakorn, using her Thai father’s surname, reckoned her performance was “rock and roll” as she finished easily last of all the finishers in the giant slalom.
Yet, in truth, she took the safety-first route down the piste, seemingly keeping as far away from the slalom gates as possible and looked comfortably the least daring and accomplished of the 90 competitors on view. Still, she must have brought some stardust with her because it actually started to snow at Rosa Khutor for the first time at the Games at the start of for her second run.
As she said, her great accomplishment was simply finishing the race on a wretched day of rain, mist and then, miraculously, the heavy snow which at one point made her think she was going to get lost on the course. Of the scheduled starters, 23 either pulled out or did not finish.
