Elise Christie

[mike1880]

I'm not an expert but she competes at the highest level in a sport where collision and disqualification appears to be routine (as the article Amber linked implies). It's easy for those of us competing in Freestyle Sofa to be critical. I recommend the following:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elise_Christie" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(Edit to add - or would we rather be represented by Elizabeth Swaney?)

[mystery]

Well I didn't watch the Winter Olympics and I have never heard of Elise Christie ( which is why I read this thread). The telegraph article Amber linked to says the same as kcg about her not taking any responsibility for events. Whether this is a serious character flaw or an unfortunate state of mind or the thick skin necessary for a non winner in this kind of 11 plus type event I cannot tell. Were you the journalist Kcg?

I guess the fake eyelashes are necessary as false fingernails would suffer in the thick gloves.

I did not warm to any of it. Seems appropriate for the occasion and time of year. The weather should be better in Tokyo 2020.

[kenyancowgirl]

Definitely not the journo, mystery, and hadn't read the article until Amber posted it!!

[tiffinboys]

Elise must be at the top to be selected to represent country. We can admire her resilience for standing up times and again.

[mike1880]

She's not only at the top, she's the ONLY European (never mind Briton) to be at the top in that sport in decades. She's achieved an enormous amount, which is summarised in a rather understated way on the Wiki page. I'm finding this an extremely unedifying thread.

[kenyancowgirl]

I'll say it again: I am NOT disputing ANY of her achievements. But I do think she is a drama queen and I do think she either doesn't take responsibility for her mistakes or blames others for them in a way that you do not see someone like LY doing. I find that behaviour slightly unedifying. It is immature - she is not a child but a 28 year old woman.

Obviously others think blaming others is ok. I wouldn't let my children get away with that sort of behaviour; others on here feel differently, obviously. I did say it was my opinion. I found the rather toe curling sycophantic behaviour the BBC showed all day yesterday, at the expense of all the other really good representatives of GB, very sad. Most people would struggle to name the 2 other girls in the speed skating (without Googling them), or the snowboarders, the curlers and the bobsleigh duo who all qualified....just my opinion, which I believe I am still entitled to express on here.

[Surferfish]

I have no feeling either way about Elise Christie as a person, however I would say this.
If you look at her career(typified by the two Olympic Games, she has a high proportion of crashes and DQs. So I would ask, is she very unlucky, or does she have a style of skating that is high risk?

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, "To lose one Olympic Short Track Speed Skating race may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose six looks like carelessness."

(Edit to add - or would we rather be represented by Elizabeth Swaney?)

Well we did kind of have her equivalent in 1988 with Eddie The Eagle...

[stroudydad]

I don't think anyone has said that she isn't a great skater... There are of course differing points of view about all the hype that surrounds her.. I actually tend to agree with KCG, and can't really take to her personally either - that's not denying she's a good skater. For me though, yes it is a bit of a Wild West sport, but if you check, she does have a win or bust history.. even going into this games the language was the same..

[stroudydad]

I have no feeling either way about Elise Christie as a person, however I would say this.
If you look at her career(typified by the two Olympic Games, she has a high proportion of crashes and DQs. So I would ask, is she very unlucky, or does she have a style of skating that is high risk?

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, "To lose one Olympic Short Track Speed Skating race may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose six looks like carelessness."

(Edit to add - or would we rather be represented by Elizabeth Swaney?)

Well we did kind of have her equivalent in 1988 with Eddie The Eagle...

The Eagle was in no way the same.. Elizabeth Swaney got there by being able to attend a massive number of events, and representing a different country. The Eagle fought the system to represent his country. (and actually he is a lovely man as I'm sure some on here will know)

[Surferfish]

The Eagle was in no way the same.. Elizabeth Swaney got there by being able to attend a massive number of events, and representing a different country. The Eagle fought the system to represent his country. (and actually he is a lovely man as I'm sure some on here will know)

Can't comment on whether Elizabeth Swaney is a lovely lady or not but surely there are other similarities? Both were able to compete in the Olympics due to attending the required number of international events and being the best in their prospective countries, even though their standard was comically well below what you would expect of the Olympics.