Vanessa-Mae, the unlikely Olympian
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E-mail China Daily, March 11, 2014
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Vanessa-Mae, competing for Thailand under her family name Vanakorn, reacts in the finish area after competing in the first run of the women's alpine skiing giant slalom event during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics at the Rosa Khutor Alpine Center on Feb 18. [Photo/China Daily via agencies] |
"I've always enjoyed risk so I think you can't just switch off the risk button. I think that life is no fun without risk."
Vanessa-Mae came up with the idea of skiing at the Winter Olympics several years ago, but only started serious training six months ago and started competing in races only two months before the games.
"The athletes have been racing since they were 6 years old. And in the short time that I've spent with the athletes, I realized how much hard work goes around just being able to strap on a pair of skis and giving it your all," she says.
"The only thing about music is there is no right or wrong - it is interpretation. Here it's based on time. And that's why it's so telling, the results. I have to say though that I can't imagine a life without sport or without music. So I'm very lucky to exist in this world where we all get the chance to enjoy both."
At the Sochi Games, Vanessa-Mae clocked 3 minutes 26.97 seconds down the course, 11.35 seconds behind her closest rival, Xia Lina of China, and 50.10 seconds behind winner Tina Maze of Slovenia.
But considering that 23 entrants failed to start or finish on the course, what she has done could be regarded as an achievement.
"It was cool. I think it's hard to stay focused, when you only have six months training like me, but I was just happy I didn't get lost, because this was my first two-gates and I thought I was going to go the wrong side, but I made it down," she says.
"I arrived with just one racer behind me - I'm a last-minute kind of girl, I mean training for the Olympics with six months to go was a last-minute thing."
She says making the transition from musician to athlete was exciting.
"It's so funny from artist to athlete. I think when I was young playing the violin, it was in my body from a young age. Already by the age of 13 I had recorded three classical albums. I was quite blase about my successes, I think when you're a kid you just take everything in your stride," she says.
"Now, at my age, to be skiing with girls that are sometimes half my age, it's great to have this new lease on life. I think you have to discover new things in every decade of your life - better late than never. And so I cannot really compare it because having achieved so much as a child on the violin, every day I just want to challenge myself more and more."
The participation of Vanessa-Mae in Sochi has drawn much attention from the media as well as other athletes.
"We spoke after the first race. I didn't know that it was her sitting next to me," says gold medalist Maze of the event.
"I respect a lot of what she does with music and she has a great personality."
Vanessa-Mae's hard work in training also impressed other skiers.
"It was a nice experience. She was really excited to be training with us, but we were equally as excited because she's such a big music star," Barbara Wirth of Germany says of Vanessa-Mae, who trained with the German team.
"She is extremely ambitious and works really hard, and we were impressed with how well she was skiing, despite the little amount of practice she's had."
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