‘I want to be known for who I am – not for crying on TV’
After the public agonies of Sochi four years ago, Elise Christie is ready to have the last laugh
Even if people do not know Elise Christie by name, there is a fair chance they know something about her; know her as “that speed skater who …”
It might be as the speed skater who suffered a gut-wrenching triple disqualification at the 2014 Winter Olympics, or who gave the tearful on-screen interview after the third of those incidents had ended her medal hopes for good.
It may be as the speed skater who received a torrent of sickening social-media abuse in the aftermath of those Sochi Games – the surge of vitriol from trolls threatening physical harm for inadvertently affecting rivals’ chances in the crash, not least Park Seung-hi, the South Korean whose pursuit of gold was ruined.
The Briton could be also known to fans as the speed skater who was physically bullied as a young girl at school, at one point left in hospital with a head injury before the threats turned verbal as she entered her teenage years.
A lot of people think they know about Christie, as she looks to belatedly win her first Olympic short-track speed-skating medal this month in Pyeongchang. But Christie wants to change the narrative: “I want to be known for who I am rather than because of something that happened.
“Obviously, I went through some bad stuff, but everyone does. Not many people get to see the fact that I’m a world champion, or the type of person it takes to do that after everything that has gone wrong.
“Everyone just remembers what did happen and maybe me crying. I’ve got no regrets about crying on screen because I put everything into this and it does make me emotional to lose. I just want people to know who I really am.”
Dubbed the “Barbie of speed skating” due to her bright blonde hair, all signs point to Christie finally achieving her moment of glory in South Korea.
Only once before have Britain won an Olympic short-track speed-skating medal – when Nicky Gooch claimed bronze in 1994
– but Christie heads to South Korea with her targets set higher.
Crowned a triple world champion last year after winning 1000 metres, 1500m and overall titles, she is the lone ranger bidding to upset the leading short-track speed-skating nation on their home turf. The main concern is that the South Koreans know it and they have numbers at their disposal.
While Christie is Britain’s standout speed skater, every race she lines up for will feature a host of South Koreans whose task is to ensure she does not even make a final, let alone make it on to the podium.
“For ages, that did stop me winning medals,” she says, of battling against the teamwork of more illustrious speed-skating nations.
“It is difficult. In the World Championship 1500m, one of the [South Korean] girls who had fallen over came back on the track and tried to hit me on the last lap, which is breaking the rules. They can do things like that and all they are going to get is a penalty but it’s not a big deal because they are already out of the race anyway.
“So, that is something we have to work against and develop strategies for. I’d say it’s probably the biggest threat in stopping me
medalling at this Olympics, because they know they’ve got to watch me and they’ll do everything they can to stop me making it to finals so that I’m not there to compete against.”
Challenging in global competitions is a far cry from Christie’s early speed-skating days when she required some coercion to even stick with the sport.
Put off by the aesthetic demands of figure skating – “I don’t like to feel like I’m performing” – Christie excelled enough at speed skating to be offered the chance to leave her West Lothian home and move to Nottingham to train full-time, aged 15. She declined and has her “pushy parent” mother to thank for her achievements today.
“I wasn’t interested – I enjoyed sport but I needed to do my school,” says Christie. “My mum just turned round and said ‘you’re going’. And I had no choice because I was 15 at the time.
“So, that was it. I got sent down there, which now I’m very thankful to my mum for. She was a pushy parent. I remember being a kid figure skating and just not wanting to be there. It was cold and I was falling all day and she was like: ‘I’ve paid for this, you get back out there now!’ I’m very grateful to her because I definitely wouldn’t have got here without her. She put a lot of work into giving me the toughness I have now, for sure.”
Such strength and resilience is well known among her teammates. Small in stature at just 5ft 3in, Christie laughs as she recounts the pride she takes in beating her male team-mates during training sessions. That smile becomes a touch more sheepish when describing how an obsession with cleaning her house can turn even the simplest of tasks into a case of success and failure.
“It’s funny because someone came round the house to jetwash the garden and he walked in and said: ‘You’d think you have OCD or something the way this looks in here,’” she says. “If I’m injured or excited about something, instead of thinking about skating I’ll go and clean my house. Then I feel like I’m achieving something else.
“My mum thinks it’s ridiculous. She comes in and says it’s like a show home and she doesn’t want to sit down because she’s uncomfortable. I don’t think it’s that bad, but I’ve definitely got a cleaning issue.”
If that is what it takes to be known for her achievements, then so be it.
‘I went through some bad stuff, but everyone does. Not many people see I am world champion’