Team GB arrived back on Monday morning after what was a brilliant winter Olympics out in South Korea. They won a record breaking 5 medals in Pyeongchang, beating our previous medal haul.
However, it wasn’t all good news. Elise Christie, the team GB short track speed skater had a dismal Winter Olympics. Christie, who is currently the world champion in the 1000m and 1500m distances crashed out or was disqualified from all of her events.
Team GB bring home record number of medals
This was the most successful Winter Olympics for team GB. We won an amazing 5 medals in South Korea which considering our lack of wintery conditions is quite remarkable. This is one more than we achieved in Sochi in 2014. Whilst that may not seem like a lot, even to win one medal is a great achievement when you consider our background.
Team GB took a total of 59 athletes to South Korea, beating the number of athletes who went to Sochi in 2014. You can see things are heading in the right direction and on that note, since the winter games have finished, team GB organisers are aiming for more at the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022.
If Christie had won a few of her events, team GB would’ve brought home even more medals and the Winter Olympics of 2018 would be even more special. But it wasn’t meant to be.
Who won what for Team GB?
Billy Morgan – Bronze medal – Big Air
Lizzy Yarnold – Gold – Skeleton
Laura Deas – Bronze – Skeleton
Dom Parsons – Bronze – Skeleton
Isabel Atkin – Bronze – Freestyle skiing
Elise Christie at the Olympics
Perhaps one of our strongest medal contenders before the games began was Elise Christie, the team GB short track speed skater. The current world champion in the 1000m and 1500m and world record holder for the 500m event, Christie is usually in the running for a medal.
Unfortunately she didn’t win any medals!
It’s fair to say, Christie has never gone well at the Olympics. Whether it’s just not meant to happen or she’s been unfortunate is another question.
2014 Winter Olympics
Back at the Winter Olympics in 2014, Christie entered the competition with high hopes of a medal in at least one of her events. However she ended up being disqualified from all three of her events leading to a very disappointing Winter Olympics in Sochi.
2018 Winter games
Fast forward four years and with all the training she put in and becoming the world champion in the 1500m along the way, the Winter Olympics in 2018 looked incredibly promising.
In the 500m event, Christie made the final but crashed out as another competitor was under-taking her. She ended up finishing fourth in that event.
In the 1500m race, she cruised through to the semi-final only to crash out and be disqualified from that race. After her crash, she ended up in hospital unsure whether she’d make her 1000m race in a few days.
Remarkably, she did make the event although this one didn’t go to plan either. In the heats she crashed out before the first corner prompting the race to be restarted. She came second once the race got going but was later disqualified for causing two separate collisions. The end to an abysmal Winter Olympics for Elise Christie.
However, like any true athlete she said she’ll be back for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
I’m already looking forward to the winter games of 2022 and to find out whether team GB can better their results from this year.
Thanks for reading 🙂