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Is Vanessa-Mae’s performance at the Olympics a setback for women’s sport?
One of the more interesting athletes in these Olympics is famed British violinist Vanessa-Mae, who competed in the giant slalom for Thailand Tuesday, finishing last (67th) out of all those who completed the course. While that might not be the most memorable finish for everyone, it's not bad for a violinist who's sold 10 million albums and only trained seriously for six months ahead of the Games. However, her accomplishment isn't being celebrated by all. The Independent's Robin Scott-Elliot sees it as somewhat of a setback for women's sport:
When the Olympic circus packs up and leaves town, the plan is to open the slopes of Rosa Khutor for tourists to follow in the ski tracks of the Alpine greats. Today, as the first snow of the Games fell on the mountains, the first Olympic sightseer was given an early go. This was a giant leap for Vanessa-Mae and a small step back for the cause of women’s sport. ...
At a time when campaigners are pushing vigorously for long overdue better – and more respectful – coverage of women’s sport, the sight of Vanessa-Mae, in a bright orange helmet, carefully negotiating her way down the slope was not designed to push the cause. At least she made it through both her runs. Twenty two did not, including Julia Mancuso, an American who had her sights on a medal.
Scott-Elliot goes on to discuss how Mae got to Sochi, and hints at a conspiracy to put her in the Games:
Under the rules of the FIS, skiing’s governing body, each non-Alpine nation is allowed to enter a solitary skier in the Games. The giant slalom is the most straightforward event, without the speed of the downhill and without the need for the technical skill required for the tighter gates of the slalom. It makes this race one for a minnows outing. There were 48 different nations taking part, including Malta, Portugal, Morocco, the US Virgin Islands and Togo – represented by an Italian who has also skied for India.
In the likes of Eddie the Eagle and the Jamaican bobsleighers, the Winter Olympics has had plenty of enthusiastic amateurs. The difference with Vanessa-Mae is that they were at least committed to their sports and trained long and hard to get there.
Vanessa-Mae trained for six months, describing her decision to try for the Olympics as a “last-minute kind of thing.” She has been skiing since the age of four, having learnt during family holidays in Val d’Isere and St Moritz. She always wanted, she says, to be a ski bum. Instead she became an Olympian.
To qualify athletes have to compete in a certain number of FIS recognised races to gain a world ranking. Vanessa-Mae persuaded the Thai Olympic association to accept her – she is British but since Eddie the Eagle the British Olympic Association has imposed more stringent qualifying standards. She just made the Games, competing in two low-key races over one weekend in Slovenia last month to earn a world ranking of 2,253. There were mutterings on the slopes that the FIS have been overly accommodating to her bid to make it here.
Scott-Elliot makes some decent points there. Mae certainly hasn't worked as hard to become a top skier as say, Slovenia's Tina Maze, who wound up winning the giant slalom (and the downhill), and too much of a focus on a violinist who tried sports as a hobby could trivialize those who have worked to get to the Olympics their whole life. However, it's worth noting that even dedicated and decorated Olympians like Maze don't spend their entire lives on just sport: Maze is getting plenty of attention herself for a music video she made in advance of the Games. So, if Maze can infiltrate the music world, turnabout seems to be fair play; few would say that only those who have put in Mae's hours of practice should be able to release music, so why can't the same logic apply to skiing?
It's notable that Mae didn't entirely make a joke of this, too. She isn't a lousy skier who just magically got into the Games; regardless of whispers of conspiracy, she appears to have finished well enough in qualifying events to meet the Olympic minimum standards (and those standards are more stringent than they were in the day of Eddie the Eagle). She also was one of only two athletes to represent Thailand in Sochi, and while stories like hers and that of Austrian prince Hubertus von Hohenlohe (who's Mexico's lone Olympian in Sochi, also competing in alpine skiing) may seem silly next to those about athletes who actually medal, they can be notable for those countries, and they can also portray another side of the Olympics. Some criticisms of Mae are valid, and she certainly shouldn't be glorified above those who actually win merely because she's famous, but it's hard to blast her too much for pursuing and achieving her Olympic dream.
