The International Ski Federation, known by its name in French, Fédération Internationale de Ski (FIS) is the main international organisation for ski sports. Founded by 14 member nations in 1924 in Chamonix, France, the organization now has a membership of 111 national ski associations and is based in Oberhofen am Thunersee, Switzerland.

The federation organises the following ski sport disciplines, for which it oversees World Cup competitions and World Championships:

Note: The discipline of Biathlon, which combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting, has its own organisation, the International Biathlon Union (IBU).

See Category:National Members of the International Ski Federation

Vanessa-Mae Vanakorn Nicholson (born 27 October 1978), known professionally as Vanessa-Mae (in Chinese: 陳美, Chén Měi), is an internationally known British violinist. Her music style is self-described as "violin techno-acoustic fusion", as several of her albums prominently feature the techno style. A former child prodigy, she became a successful crossover violinist with album sales reaching several millions, having made her the wealthiest young entertainer in the United Kingdom in 2006.

Vanessa-Mae was born in Singapore to Vorapong Vanakorn, an English hotelier of Thai descent, and Pamela Soei Luang Tan, a Chinese lawyer and semi-professional concert pianist. After her parents separated, her mother married Graham Nicholson, a British attorney who adopted Vanessa-Mae, and the family moved to England when Vanessa-Mae was four years old. She grew up in London and holds British citizenship. She began playing piano at the age of three and violin at five.

At the age of eight she attended the Francis Holland School in central London, and at eleven, after her concert debut in 1988, she enrolled at the Royal College of Music in London.