They said they’d kill my mum!
Christie targets gold after beating bullies
BRITISH speed skater Elise Christie says it is ‘insane’ that UK Sport is investing £4.4million into her sport in the run-up to next year’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
That sum is funding a dozen elite skaters and their steep travel costs for four years — not to mention, as Christie says: ‘Every member of staff you could possibly want in your corner. Two physios, a psychologist, everything.’
But it remains an eye-watering figure as debate has never been fiercer about the allocation of public money and whether it is appropriate to be so focused on medal hopes. Speed skating’s cash is part of £27.9m for winter sports ahead of 2018.
What the 26-year-old from Livingston finds as amazing as the sheer amount of money — ‘I wish that was my wage, but it’s not!’ — is that it kept coming despite no speed skating success in Sochi.
Most famously, Christie herself left with nothing after multiple disqualifications. ‘UK Sport kept me on after Sochi and kept our whole sport on, which is incredible, because we didn’t really do anything to deserve it in a way, but they gave us another chance,’ she says. ‘They’ve never doubted us.’
Therein lies the funding justification — one that is starting to ring true given that Christie has just returned from the world championships in Rotterdam with three golds. It might have been four but in the 500metres she pushed too hard in search of the biggest prize and ended up with nothing.
That epitomises what Christie says is a change of mindset. ‘This year I’ve decided there is no point in just picking up [non-gold] medals any more,’ she says.
There will be no more ‘playing safe’ to try to guarantee a podium place. Instead, risk-taking in the quest for gold is her mantra. ‘If you try to win in my sport it’s a lot riskier because if you go for it, there’s a danger you’ll fail.’
The change in approach is partly down to an alliance with former England rugby star Will Greenwood, a ‘mentor’ assigned to part of a package of assistance provided by Sky Sports. The broadcaster provides a group of British talents with ‘scholarship’ funding for equipment, access to media training and ‘wise head’ advice.
Greenwood famously went from a life-threatening low in 1997 when he swallowed his tongue on a Lions tour to a career high of winning the Rugby World Cup in 2003.
‘He suffered massive loss then great success,’ Christie says. ‘And he’s taught me how to turn around my own loss in Sochi. His mentality of accepting short-term failure to win in the end has helped me a lot.
‘One example would be to stop dwelling on what happened and look at how to change it.’
The turnaround has been astonishing. After Sochi, where Christie accidentally floored a South Korean rival, she received a sustained torrent of abuse, mostly online.
‘All I was trying to do was win an Olympic medal. It turned into death threats,’ she says. ‘I was bullied at school, so to go through it all again, on that scale, was…’ she trails off.
‘People threatened to kill my mum! It was hard and I didn’t want to skate any more. Why would I want to be in the public limelight if this stuff is going to happen from it? I suffered from anxiety after that, but I have turned it around.’
The Games next year do not daunt her, either, despite most of the abuse coming from Korea. ‘The rest of Korea turned on these abusive people and became fans. The abuse had the opposite effect of what the bullies wanted.’
A turnaround many will want to see completed next year.
Elise Christie is a current Sky Sports Scholar. The Sky Academy Sports Scholarship scheme is now open for applications from sporting stars aged 16-25. Applications close at midnight today.