DRAMA ELISE CHRISTIE
SHE failed but she did it with some panache — two crashes, a disqualification, a fall, a trip to hospital. It was all there for the speed skater who was meant to be Britain’s star of the Games. By the end of it, it was impossible to shake the feeling that the Olympics truly broke her, just as they did in Sochi, and her suffering was laid out for all to see in escalating instalments. Granted, she was a victim of her own mistakes, but there is something alluring about an athlete who is so captivated by gold that she would take massive risks instead of settling for bronze. It would take a stone heart not to feel some sympathy for this madly aggressive racer.