ELISE CHRISTIE’S Olympic nightmare somehow reached a new low as she was DISQUALIFIED in her final bid for gold.
Christie crashed during the opening few strides of her short track skating 1000 metres heat, but the start was re-run and she finished second despite nursing an ankle injury.
Yet in the moments afterwards, she was incredibly shown a yellow card for blocking the path of Poland’s Magdalena Warakomska.
The 27-year-old could now rightly claim to be the most cursed athlete in British history after she crashed out of her other two events at this year’s Games.
Christie was taking to the start line at the 1km event, her third and final throw of the dice.
But as she skated her first few steps she collided with a rival and fell to the floor, looking in pain at her ankle ligament injury from the 500m final.
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Luckily for her, the start was re-run and she got another bite at the cherry, starting slowly and letting the other skaters take the lead.
She got back into the race and got herself into contention to qualify in the top two.
DOWN & OUT GB’s Elise Christie stretchered off 1500m semi-final in tears after ANOTHER fall
She fought for position on the straights with Holland’s Lara van Ruijven, Pole Warakomska and Hungary’s Andrea Keszler.
And as Christie crossed the line in second place behind Van Ruijven, she looked to have shaken off her demons with a time of 1min 30.963sec.
Elise Christie's Olympic hex - crashes that have defined the unfortunate Scot
SOCHI 2014
Disqualified in the 500m – involved in a crash which blew the chances of South Korea racer Park Seung-hi.
Finished first in 1500m heats but was judged not to have crossed official line by 1cm.
Crashed in 1000m semi-final after colliding with Chinese skater Li Jianrou.
After that Olympic Games Christie was then subjected to death threats and online abuse from furious South Korea speed skating fans about the 500m crash.
PYEONGCHANG 2018
In tears after crashing out of 500m final. Replays showed Dutch skater Yara van Kerkhof clipped her hand while overtaking the Brit.
Taken to hospital in tears with injured ankle after tangling with China’s Li Jinyu and smashing into boarding at full pace during 1500m semi-final.
Disqualified after 1000m heat after making contact with a skater on her inside.
However, the referees showed her a yellow card before she was carried away from the rink by her coach.
The decision looked harsh on Christie, given there was pushing from other skaters in her heat, but she looked to have fallen foul of the rule that you cannot block anyone moving up the inside.
The Scot said afterwards: “We did everything we could to turn this around and it wasn’t meant to be.
“I would have been off for five or six weeks. I wouldn’t have gone on if it was the world championships.
“I felt I just owe it to Britain. I just really wanted to get short track out there, it’s such an amazing sport.
“At times it does this to you.
“I can hold my hand up now and say I have no idea why I’ve got a yellow card. When I watched the race, I was kicked on the start and fell over.
“I’ve never had a yellow card in my life, and I rarely get penalties. I went up the inside and on the video I was in front of the girl.
“Right now I’m a bit shell-shocked, I worked so hard to come back from this injury, I can barely bend my knee.
“The only thing I can say is that I will fight back for this, I’ll be back for Beijing and hopefully I can do Britain proud then.”
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