WINTER Shoved Elise in new tear-jerker

OLYMPICS2018

ELISE CHRISTIE was left in tears once again as her Olympic curse continued.

The three-time world champion crashed twice and was disqualified once at Sochi 2014.

Four years later, to the very day, she tumbled in the final once again and afterwards claimed she had been pushed to the ice.

“I was knocked over, I didn’t fall on my own and it sucks,” she said. “It’s just tough, I’ve worked so hard for this and it has been taken away from me. Right now I can’t see living with this feeling. It is short track and I’m supposed to be prepared for this, but it hurts.” There is no filter with Christie. What you see is what you get, and what we got yesterday was tears and raw emotion. No hugs could console, no words could encourage. She was utterly bereft and devastated at her misfortune – again. She had set a 500m Olympic record in her quarter-final but was edged into second in her semi-final. That put pressure on her start, which she admits is not her strength, in short track’s sprint discipline. She was fourth at the first corner but waited patiently to move into the medal positions, until it appeared she was caught by the arm of Dutch skater Yara van Kerkhof. Italy’s Arianna Fontana took gold while Van Kerkhof was promoted to silver after home skater Choi Min-Jeong was disqualified for interference. Canada’s Kim Boutin completed the podium.

“So many little things conspired against me,” said Christie. “I got bumped in my semi-final and because it wasn’t that quick, I started from lane four. I’m not the fastest starter, so I knew the likelihood of winning gold was pretty slim at that point. The race shifted around and then I thought I could win the thing.

“I got caught and that just sucks.

“I tried my best to hold the corner but we’re going quite fast on these tiny blades.

“It’s really hard to explain, I’ve worked so hard for that moment out there and I got knocked over.”

Christie must now regain her composure for her final two events, over 1500m this weekend and 1,000m – her favourite – next week.

“Hopefully I can come back again, reset,” she said. “It’s a week until my best distance and I can turn it around but, right now, it sucks.” Team GB chef de mission Mike Hay said: “I admire her for trying to win gold and everybody could see she tried everything to move up the field.

“She is a different athlete to four years ago. She’s got great support staff around her. She’s got two of her favourite events coming up now so there’s still a lot left in the tank here.

“It’s a disappointment, there’s no getting away from it, but she’ll get herself back up.”

Fontana, who finally upgraded her Olympic silver and four bronzes to a gold, agreed.

“This is short track, it’s part of the game,” she said. “It’s not a failure, you should never use that word, and she will use this to perform better in her next races. She’s got her best events to come too, there is no need for panic.

“Elise is a world-class performer, no one in the UK should ever forget that.”

Watch Elise Christie in action on Eurosport 1 at 10am on Saturday. Don’t miss a moment of the Games on Eurosport and Eurosport Player. Go to www.eurosport.co.uk

I’ve worked so hard and it has been taken away