The unlikely Olympian

"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.