Beyond the medals: Elise Christie’s testing Winter Olympic journey
The British short track speed skater has hit the highest of highs and lowest of lows during her racing journey but now, in her last Games, the focus is on mettle not medals.
Short Track Speed Skating
Elise Christie’s change of heart came after her first Winter Olympic Games at Vancouver 2010. By her own admission, at that time, she was just happy to be a part of the experience, but afterwards, things had changed.
“I came out of Vancouver thinking, ‘I don’t want to do that again, just skate’. I felt like – no disrespect to anyone – but coming from Great Britain’s winter sport programme, winning a medal was never going to happen. But then I thought, ‘That’s not the attitude, there’s no reason why anyone should be better than you’. I’m going to do everything I can to try and get that medal because in eight years’ time when I finish my career, I’ll know I’ve done my best and I can be happy with that.”
Christie said this in an interview with Women in Sport magazine in 2013. The ‘eight years later’ retirement has been and gone with disappointing medal-less performances at Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018 for Christie, who was by then one of the world’s best.
So the 31-year-old Brit has unfinished business in continuing on to her fourth Games but it’s not necessarily that elusive Olympic medal she is seeking at Beijing 2022. Despite now having 12 world championship medals and 10 European titles, maybe that podium placing is not as important as it once was. After all that has happened, maybe the Scot just wants to make a clean skate for her own peace of mind before she hangs up her blades for good.
Breaking the ice
Originally a figure skater, Christie switched to short track aged 15, moving down from her home in Scotland to the National Ice Centre in Nottingham, central England, to train. Preferring the clear-cut first-over-the-line racing aspect to the judging of figure skating, Christie's decision turned out to be a good one. Just five years later Christie had won her first major international medals; silver in the 1500m and 3,000m, plus overall bronze, at the 2010 European Championships in Dresden, Germany.
It was a month later that Christie took part in her first Winter Olympics. The then 19-year-old finished 11th in the 500m, 19th in the 1,000m and 20th in the 1500m in the Canada Games. It was post Vancouver that she decided to go all out, making seemingly small decisions that would have a big impact on her now burgeoning sport career.
“Instead of going round a friend’s house a couple of nights a week I’d just stay at home and recover,” Christie revealed. She also spoke to her coach, Nick Gooch, about recovery strategies and “setting goals every day so I’ve got something that’s a challenge to aim for”.
She also trained with male skaters every day, which no doubt added to Christie’s robustness on the ice, but she sometimes found it "demoralising".
“I’m very thankful because that is what’s made me stronger over the past few years but it is hard pushing yourself to the limit every day – I don’t ever skate comfortably within myself, it’s always, ‘Right, let’s go hard again’.”
Cuts no ice
Two years after the Vancouver Games, Christie became the first Brit to win a World Cup short-track speed skating series – in the 1,000m in the 2012–13 season – and also won her first world championship medal, a bronze in the same discipline at the 2013 event in Debrecen, Hungary.
Another game-changer in 2013, was Christie being selected as one of 12 young British athletes to be part of a Sky Sports Scholarship programme. Running from September 2013 to June 2017 the scheme offered Christie financial support, media training, Sky specific opportunities and mentoring by ex-England rugby union star and World Cup winner, Will Greenwood.
Another influential moment was when Republic of Korea skater Kim Min-Jung trained in the UK for a few months, enabling Christie to test herself against a top female competitor.
“Min trained here for maybe two months and it was helpful because you see where you are compared to the rest of the world instead of training for six months and you don’t have a clue where you are, and then you have to go and compete.”
Kim's story also served as a reminder to Christie how brutal sporting life can be. The 28-year-old Korean had been on course to be a major rival to Christie at the 2014 Games. “Unfortunately,” says Christie, “she fell twice in her Olympic trials and didn’t make the team so she’s not going to Sochi. She’s had a terrible time. She broke her back a few years ago and in Vancouver she skated the relay and Korea won but then got disqualified, and she won’t get another chance.”
By the time of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, Christie herself had high hopes of winning a medal, one of few Brits likely to do so, thus increasing her profile in the media. By the end of the Games, however, Christie’s profile was high for the most devastating of reasons.
Skating on thin ice
Christie had entered three races in Russia. In the 500m she reached the final but was disqualified when she collided with Italian skater Arianna Fontana. She was also harassed on Twitter by some members of the public who felt Christie had also caused home favourite, Park Seung-Hi, to crash. Christie closed her Twitter account in response.
Christie was then disqualified in the heats of the 1500m for not crossing the finishing line properly, and in the 1,000m semi-finals was disqualified after colliding with People's Republic of China's Li Jianrou on the final turn of the race.
All incidences are very much part and parcel of the sport due to its nature of athletes racing tightly packed around an oval-shaped loop, of varying distances, in a knockout format. Bumping and barging and unexpected fallers skittling others to the ice before sliding unceremoniously into padded walls is part of the thrill, but Christie was unfortunate in it happening in all three of her races.
Ice queen
Christie, distraught from the races but also from the social media abuse, emerged from her second Games in a fragile state. Part of her recovery was an idea by Gooch to head to the Republic of Korea – hosts to the next Olympic Games – to train.
A confronting idea but one that paid off for Christie. “It really helped me because everyone was really nice,” she said in an interview with the Guardian in 2018. “All their skaters really wanted to train with me and it was one of the best experiences of my life so far."
By 2017, Christie was flying, becoming the first non-Asian skater to win the women's world championships overall title in 23 years. At the Netherlands-hosted event, Christie won gold in both the 1500m and 1,000m, bronze in the 3,000m, and was fourth in the 500m. She was looking nailed on for at least one medal the following year at the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games.
Ices over
Christie started well, setting the first Olympic record of the Games during the qualification round of the 500m, with a time of 42.872 seconds. A back and forth then ensued between the Brit and home favourite, Republic of Korea’s Choi Min-jeong, swapping world records throughout the rounds.
Unfortunately, despite her clearly good form, Christie crashed out in the final when Netherland’s Yara Van Kerkhof's skate clipped her hand. Van Kerkhof nevertheless took silver, Christie finished fourth, and Choi finished last after being penalised for interference, but at least the Korean still had the world record to her name. Such is the brutal nature of the sport.
In the 1500 metres, Christie crashed out of her semi-final race in a collision with People's Republic of China's Li Jinyu, for which she was disqualified, injuring her ankle in the process. Christie made it through to the quarter-finals but was carried off the track by her coach as she was in too much pain to walk. To add insult to injury, literally, Christie was then disqualified from the event anyway, after a jury said she had committed an offence by causing two collisions.
Christie’s third Winter Olympic Games was not the redemption she’d hoped for.
Tip of the iceberg
Since the last Winter Olympic Games, Christie has been open about her struggles behind the scenes, particularly with her mental health. In 2019, Christie discussed via a social media post that she had suffered from depression and anxiety for a two-year period, including self-harm. Shockingly, just last month on the release of her book, Resilience, Christie revealed that she had been sexually assaulted on a night out in Nottingham in 2010, when she was 19, after having her drink spiked.
A dozen years on from her first Games, though, Christie has a better support system around her, and talk around mental health is more prominent, especially with the likes of Christie and superstars like Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka and Michael Phelps speaking out about their own experiences. Christie feels that by speaking out, she can help people in a similar position and already other athletes in her sporting circle have been inspired by her.
“I talked to Elise a lot and it really helped,” said Swedish skater Erika Lindgren, who was diagnosed with depression and an eating disorder. “When she was first posting about mental health issues, it was so helpful for me, seeing someone that I look up to and who skates so well being open about these things. I really admire her.
Christie’s teammate Kyle Ross-Waddell was also hugely thankful of Christie’s guidance.
“I was diagnosed with depression and I was in my bedroom for 24 hours a day, only coming out for food,” he said. “I got to the point where I was self-harming. It’s scary now to think that I did that. It was a very low point.
“Elise was the first person I told about my self-harm. She spoke to the coaches for me and then they spoke to my parents. Elise knows what I’ve been through. She checks in with me to make sure I’m eating enough and doing well.
“Hearing what Elise has been through, and to see she’s still fighting, and going for her dream, she’s incredible."
Hearing these comments from her contemporaries, Christie doesn't need to win medals in Beijing to show her worth; she showing more than that. Her mettle.
The road to Beijing: Team GB and the Short Track World Cups
The Great Britain Short Track Speed Skating Performance Squad will compete at the World and European Championships, as well as World Cups. Each skater will be racing over the coming months for places at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
The first World Cup starts on Thursday (22 October) in Beijing.
Kathryn Thomson, Elise Christie and Holly Hoyland make up the core women’s team with Isabelle Roberts reserve. Charlotte Hayward is the team’s non-travelling reserve.
The men’s team is made up of Farrell Treacy, Jonathan Moody, Niall Treacy, Ethan Treacy and Westley Yates. The team's non-travelling reserve is Theo Collins.
Full Short Track Speed Skating 2021-22 Fixture List
World Cup 1: Beijing, China – 21-24 October 2021
World Cup 2: Nagoya, Japan – 28-31 October 2021
World Cup 3: Debrecen, Hungary – 18-21 November 2021
World Cup 4: Dordrecht, Netherlands – 25-28 November 2021
European Championships: Dresden, Germany – 14-16 January 2022
Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games – 4-20 February 2022
ISU World Championships: Montreal, Canada – 18-20 March 2022