Christie had previously competed at Vancouver in 2010 where she was unable to reach the top ten in any of her events. At Sochi in 2014, a medal buzz grew following her blistering form in the European Championships, but there was heartbreak instead. She was disqualified from the 500m final for colliding with the Italian, Arianna Fontana. In the 1500m event, Christie was disqualified for not crossing the finishing line. And in the 1000m semi-final, she was disqualified for a third time for colliding with Jianrou Li. The amount of harassment directed towards the speed skater on Twitter led her to close her account.

Christie entered the 2018 Winter Olympics, as a double world champion and was nicknamed the fastest woman on ice. The speed skater was hailed as Team GB’s most likely medal winner. Christie started the Winter Games well, qualifying for the 500m easily and setting an Olympic record. In interviews, she was happy with her performance, saying she wasn’t even at her best yet. It wasn’t to be. Van Kerkhof’s skate clipped her hand and she crashed out. Despite finishing 1st in the 1500m event, Christie collided with Li Jinyu and was once again disqualified; the collision caused Christie an ankle injury which put her participation in the 1000m in doubt. She did compete in her heat, but fell before the first corner, meaning the race was restarted, then finished 2nd but was carried off in pain. Judges disqualified Christie for causing two separate collision incidents, putting any dreams of medals well and truly to bed.

So what’s next for Elise Christie?

Firstly, get off the ice. Recover from the injury and take some time away from the sport. She has confirmed she will be back for the 2022 Winter Olympics; if she qualifies, she will be 31 years old and that will likely be her last opportunity to show what she can do.

It’s time to rebuild and time to reassess. To face major competitions again, Elise needs to ensure she is mentally tough. Mental toughness can be described as the ability to achieve personal goals in the face of pressure from a wide range of different stressors; it encapsulates resilience, hardiness, tough-mindedness, and the ability to cope.

Why is it important? Mental toughness influences:

• Attitude: people’s belief and commitments
• Training: motivation, environmental control, able to push self to the limits
• Competition: ability to handle pressure, self-belief, regulating performance, staying focused, and in control of thoughts
• Post-competition: ability to handle failure or success

Elise has faced these hardships before and went into South Korea feeling much stronger than Sochi, but now she’s back to square one. Few athletes will experience the same number of devastations on the Olympic stage, and the worst outcome is for Elise to question whether all the hard work was worth it.

The good news for Elise is that she has shown her pace and shown she is capable of making the podium. Now, she must work on staying mentally tough to be able to withstand these setbacks; this can be achieved through many avenues.

Environment: Influence of parents, childhood background, and experiencing and surviving early set-backs

Character: Independence, self-reflection, resilience

Tough Attitudes: Exploit learning opportunities, go the extra mile, be willing to take risks, and set challenging targets

Tough Thinking: Able to think clearly and robustly about self-confidence

In terms of Christie’s psychological development, it’s crucial that she continues to challenge herself and surrounds herself with the right support. There are four general dimensions to developing mental toughness:

1. Sport Process – this is hinged on training and competing: Elise must ensure training is consistent well-prepared, and simulates competition. Competitions should include both good and bad experiences, across different environments, and consistency should be achieved.

2. Sport Personnel – Coach; the coach should employ transformational leadership, instil hard work and discipline, and provide emotional support and motivation. Teammates; need to provide encouragement and rivalries as well as providing emotional support. Although Elise competes alone, she’s part of the speed skating team from Great Britain as well as the wider Team GB umbrella.

3. Non-Sport Personnel – Elise should look to parents, siblings, and her partner for motivation, encouragement, belief, and feedback.

4. The Environment – Within the training environment, hard work, competitive attitudes, and determination needs to be instilled. The family environment should display an interest in speed skating as well as promote hard work and a never give up attitude. Lastly, Elise needs someone she can model from – which is difficult when you’re the fastest woman on ice.

Can mental toughness really protect an individual from heartache when the pressure is so great?

There is an argument that the pressure placed on her by Team GB was just too much. Elise was expected to bring home a medal; a double world champion is expected to make the podium – but she choked, again. Sports is a business.

The women’s bobsleigh team had no funding and instead raised their own money to attend the games where they achieved Britain’s best ever result. Conversely, the men’s bobsleigh under performed – woefully – and their funding will likely be cut. Money has been ploughed into the skeleton with great results; Lizzy Yarnold defended her gold  medal and Britain achieved a men’s and a women’s bronze. What next for speed skating? It received close to £5 million in the run up to the games to achieve results, but was it worth it? UK Sport have said that they will not cut it, as long as Christie commits to Beijing 2022 as they still believe she has a chance of making the podium.

Elise Christie has proved she has the ability, now she needs consistency and the way to do that is ensuring mental toughness throughout all aspects of her life.

Money:

• It’s not cost-effective to send players to the Winter Games
• Star players are selected for the national team and if they get injured on international duty then it impacts their NHL team: Tavares, Zetterberg, Barkov, and Kopecky all suffered season-ending injuries in Sochi.
• There’s a lukewarm reception for the NHL in Asia.
• Player salaries are so good they are able to play for free at Olympics; there is an argument that this is a luxury they can only afford due to the league’s generosity.

Time: 

• Bye-weeks have been introduced in the last couple of seasons to provide a mid-season break
• Halting the season for almost a month for the Olympics, disrupts a season; the summer break for the Stanley Cup Final teams then becomes very short.
• There’s no football or baseball on to compete with at this time of year and voluntarily making the league redundant during this time is a bad business move.

Rights: 

• NHL doesn’t receive the rights to photos or videos from Olympic competitions therefore Crosby’s Vancouver golden goal and Oshie’s shootout heroics were unable  to be shown.

Already International:

• The NHL had it’s own World Cup a couple of years ago
• They’ve hosted “China Games” this season in Shanghai and Beijing
• They’ve also announced European games in Sweden, Finland, and Germany

On the surface, the majority of these reasons are plausible ones to not attend the Olympics, but when you break it down, it is all about the money. Maybe that’s the way of professional sports, but it’s greedy and dispirited.

In previous years, the International Olympic Committee has paid for the travel expenses, insurance, and accommodation, but refused in 2018. The International Ice Hockey Federation offered $20 million in support, but this was refused then the NHL decided the Olympics isn’t profitable to the league.

Injuries do happen – even to star players – but they happen in league games, they happen in World Cup of Hockey games, they happen in China Games, and they happen in European Games. How many players, at the end of a season, come forward with a list of body parts that need repairs? Imagine if soccer teams denied their players the chance to play in the World Cup because they might get injured. The soccer season is littered with international games; players being injured in a friendly international game is frustrating but representing your country is an athlete’s highest honour.

If there’s no football or baseball to watch, would you switch to hockey? Or would you switch to the Winter Olympics that happens once every four years? Commentary on the Winter Games is meant for people who do not know the sport so can provide an easy introduction to it. What better place to showcase star players who are the big draws to the game!

The season is lengthened when the Winter Games are included, but a new team, the Vegas Golden Knights, has entered the league which has also lengthened the season; Seattle have proposed a team for the league too and that will likely come into effect in the next few years. For the players who are not selected to play for their country, the Olympics provides the opportunity to rest up and have injuries seen to, putting them in better stead for the run up to the play offs. The majority of league players will not attend the Olympics and the majority will not make it to the Stanley Cup final.

Pre-season has been brought forwards, with the inclusion of the China Games and the World Cup of Hockey; these are unnecessary NHL money-spinners that lengthen the season too. They’ve also decided to include the European games as part of the regular league; why not make these players have a 10 hour flight to Europe, play a single game, and fly back to North America! That makes a world of sense… Furthermore, although they have argued that the Olympics isn’t growing the game, it’s more likely that they do not directly receive the profits of these games hence why they’re “growing it on their own term$”.

The Winter Olympics is once every four years!!! FOUR YEARS!! The arguments about costs/season disruption/injuries are ones that are faced once every four years.

Finally, professional athletes are being denied the right to live out a dream of competing at the Olympics. However, this has provided lower league players the opportunity to live that dream. With the absence of power-house NHL roster Canadian and American teams, could it be that there is a more level playing field (or hockey rink)? Certainly, the Germans will be happy with their semi-final win over Canada, but the 36 million Canadians might not be.

Without a doubt, the hockey has been great – but it could have been outstanding with NHL players. That’s not meant to discredit the athletes in South Korea as many college players will go onto professional leagues, lots of ex-NHLers are in the rosters, and numerous other players are in professional leagues around Europe: the bulk of the Olympic Athletes from Russia team is made up of SKA St Petersburg players from the Kontinental Hockey League. But it’s so exciting to watch the faces of each franchise line up together as one team.

The take home message: if Gary Bettman isn’t lining his pockets then he ain’t interested.

These three black players were subjected to racist abuse during the 1970s. The abuse included the chant “pull that trigger, shoot that n*****”, and receiving bullets in the post. Despite this,  he continued to inspire young black players to pursue the game. The three broke down barriers and showed the heights that could be achieved for black players. They  are to be honoured with a statue this season at the Hawthorns.

An electrifying player on the pitch, and a role model off it. Rest in peace to one of the true gentlemen of the game, Cyrille Regis.

At 26, Van Dijk is entering his peak years; he’s everything Liverpool could want in a defender – he’s tall, strong, great in aerial challenges, he can attack and defend, he’s quick, he’s physical, and an accurate passer. Ragnar Klavan and Dejan Lovren’s position in the team might be under threat with the arrival of VVD, but it’s a needed change; whilst Liverpool’s attack has been stellar, their defence has been woeful.

Man City have been on too good of a form this year, for me I believe the title race is already over. However, qualifying for the top four is going to be tight and van Dijk’s arrival is much needed. Next season, with Keita in the squad too, Liverpool will be a force to be reckoned with.

The game went to a shootout with the Golden Knights winning 4-3 overall against the Nashville Predators. Let’s hope there’s no hard feelings at the dinner table on Christmas Day!

• 832 games played
• 6 Serie A titles
• 2 Coppa Italia
• 3 Supercoppa Italiana
• 2 UEFA Champions Leagues
• 2 UEFA Super Cups
• 1 FIFA Club World Cup
• 1 World Cup

An incredible career and an absolutely phenomenal player. Enjoy seventeen minutes of his best bits. 

“I lifted my eyes to the heavens and asked for help because if God exists, there’s no way he’s French.” – Pirlo before taking a penalty in the 2006 World Cup Final

2017 has been a success for English football. The men’s senior team did qualify for the World Cup, and although it is generally expected, it’s still an achievement. The U20s team won their respective world cup with a 1-0 win over Venezuela then the U17s won their world cup in India with a stunning 5-2 win over Spain.

A new golden generation. That’s a lot of pressure to be piled on so early in advance, don’t you think, Gary? England are notorious for failing to live up to expectations. The senior team have only won one major trophy and that was fifty years ago!

There are many reasons why the senior team fails to perform; lack of cohesion is a key factor and the effect of strong cohesion can be seen within the German teams from 2010 and 2014, as well as the Spanish World Cup winning team in 2010. Many of these players had played together every week in their clubs; Barcelona and Real Madrid made the core of the Spanish side, Bayern Munich and Dortmund formed the bulk of the German squad. We can argue that in England there’s a few from Liverpool, few from Manchester United, a couple from Leicester, but it’s not enough. They’re footballers – surely they can play no matter who they’re on a team with.

Before they get to that point, these young players need to mature. What is important now is that these “golden” youth teams are provided with a chance to grow – to make mistakes – and develop. They need time to move up through the youth ranks and have the opportunity to represent their senior side. Too often, young players are not given the space to learn in a senior side for fear of losing league points – and in the Premier League, every point matters (unless you’re Manchester City who are running away with the league this season).

Many will argue that bringing in foreign players, removes the opportunity for home grown talent – and whilst I don’t completely agree with that statement, I believe club managers do need to let talented young players into the senior squad, even if it is at the risk of them making a mistake. If we do not make mistakes, we do not learn.

If nobody took a chance on the class of ’92, we wouldn’t have Beckham, the Nevilles, Butt, Scholes, and Giggs.

One study has found that activity levels were correlated to lower levels of pain, depression, fatigue, and the disability itself. It was also correlated with higher social support, self-efficacy, and quality of life. However, it is unclear from this study whether exercise led to these improvements or whether the participants who did exercise had less severe symptoms of MS and therefore could be more active. Petajan (1996) carried out an exercise intervention to investigate just that and following a 15 week aerobic training plan, there were improvements in bladder and bowel function, social interaction, and emotional behaviour. There were also mental health benefits in the form of reduced levels of depression, anger, and fatigue. Further, Marck (2014) argued that as a majority of studies on MS do tend to use people who have mild forms of the disease, they are not applicable to those with more severe forms. Marck then recruited over 2000 people with MS to complete an online survey and found that generally, those who exercised were younger, male with low BMIs, and mild forms of MS – as expected. Reflecting previous results, as exercise increased so did physical and mental health, social functioning, and overall quality of life. A crucial factor though was not the severity of the disease; individuals with severe MS who exercised 5 times a week had a higher quality life than someone with mild MS who did no exercise.

The take home message is exercise is accessible to individuals with disabilities and should be accessed for the numerous benefits it yields.

So why are they not exercising?

Firstly, there are issues relating to the facility itself; is the facility accessible and inclusive? Does it have any inclusive equipment? Are the staff knowledgeable and welcoming? Sometimes the disability itself can be a barrier as people believe exercise will be too difficult for them, others will discriminate against them, their condition may be exacerbated by physical activity or they will be too tired, or they simply cannot engage in exercise. Finally, body image also acts as a barrier to exercise.

Body image is your attitude towards your own body; how you see yourself, how you think and feel about the way you look, and how you think others perceive you. Poor body image is linked to social physique anxiety; people who are obese and have social physique anxiety can be scared to enter a gym environment due to how their body might be perceived by others, and how they themselves see their body. For people with disabilities, particularly visible ones like amputations, social physique anxiety can prevent them from exercising. Breakey (1997) found a correlation between positive body image and psychological well being in people with amputations – these individuals had lower levels of anxiety and depression, and higher levels of life satisfaction. Atherton and Robertson (2006) found that negative appearance related beliefs towards amputations contributed to distress and adjustment difficulties.  Interestingly, although body image is correlated to levels of activity, people with an amputation display high levels of social physique anxiety; that is to say although exercise will benefit their body image, there is an initial fear to engage in exercise due to lack of confidence. The research on this area is sparse; it could be that this is a population that would experience more social physique anxiety due to scarring, stumps, and prosthetics, yet it’s not really been thoroughly looked into. The goal of rehabilitation following an amputation is to get the individual mobile and self-dependent, often through resistance training and physiotherapy, but not focused on regular exercise programme.