Elise Christie: ‘It seems dramatic but after Sochi I thought people wanted to kill me’

Speed skating world champion will be among the favourites for Winter Olympic gold and memories of her anxious first visit to South Korea fill her with hope“I needed to face up to what was killing me,” Elise Christie says as, before looking ahead to the Winter Olympics in South Korea next month, she remembers the lowest point of her life. Four years ago Christie was persuaded to head for the country which seemed intent on destroying her. Only a few months had passed since her Sochi Olympics ended in disaster with three disqualifications being followed by hundreds of death threats from Koreans who believed she had cost one of their speed skating stars a gold medal.“The way the Koreans responded had made me scared of living,” Christie says. “I couldn’t sleep. I was worried. I know it seems so dramatic. But I thought people actually did want to kill me. So my coach [Nicky Gooch] decided to hit it head on. He made me go out there to train but I didn’t want to go. I was dreading going especially because they were sending me to work with the Korean coach.” Continue reading…
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