• She has been disqualified twice and targeted by trolls
• BOA calls for better policing by social network sites
A 1,000m heat, even in the Olympics, would not ordinarily hold much fear for Elise Christie, the British speed skater who is a former world No1 at the distance.
But after the mental anguish of being disqualified twice and the online abuse that led Team GB to call on social networks to be better policed, Christie faces a challenge to put her demons behind her.
Her coach, the former short-track bronze medallist Nicky Gooch, said the 23-year-old was finding it "very tough" to deal with the disappointment but that she was still in with a chance of a medal at her best distance.
After being disqualified in the 1500m heats for stepping inside the finish line, Christie revealed she had been abused on Twitter by fans angry that she had caused the South Korean racer Park Seung-hi to crash in the 500m final.
In that race Christie had crossed the line in second place only to be penalised for causing a pile-up early in the race and being demoted to eighth.
Christie is not the first athlete to be targeted by trolls but team officials say the abuse, which led her to delete her Twitter account, was "unpleasant" in the extreme and inevitably affected her state of mind.
"Even the Korean girl who was first when the crash happened has come out and said this is crazy and backed Elise," said Gooch, who added that Christie had also received a lot of support from the public and elsewhere.
"We have a Korean coach within our team and he knows what has been said on the internet and there's a lot of support from Korea too. Most people who've heard about it have felt it's ridiculous."
The British Olympic Association said that more needed to be done to protect vulnerable athletes and others from abuse over social networks.
"Why are the service providers getting a free pass? It's unconscionable," said Darryl Seibel, the BOA director of communications who oversees a team responsible for guiding athletes in their use of social media . "They provide the portal. They have full sight of what's going on."
He said service providers such as Twitter and Facebook acted quickly when offensive content was flagged up but that they should do more to police their services.
Gooch admitted that Christie had found it "tough" to deal with crashing out of her first two events. He is hoping the Scot, who trains in Nottingham with the rest of the team, can put her double disqualifications out of her mind.
"This is not new. We have to deal with these problems in our sport. We'll try to think about the positives and things we can control," he said. "If we get it right on the day we will be in with a shout for medals. She's been low, disappointed and after the first night she had the hate mail. It got to her a bit but now in response to that she's had a lot of support from people."
Last year Christie was ranked No1 in the world at 1,000m and in January retained her European Championship title in Dresden.
Gooch, who won bronze in 1994 in Lillehammer, said that, too, created its own pressure because her rivals would target her.
"There is a lot of expectation to perform in this above other distances, and with other races going the way they have it creates more pressure. This is what it is to be an elite athlete. You have to deal with these things," he said. "When she's out there and racing, if we get the mind-set right, we will be fine."
He said it was important that Christie and the British team did not dwell on her disappointment or become self-indulgent, saying that the decisions to disqualify her were "50-50 calls".
"I think it's very easy to indulge in 'It's unfair and it's all going against us', but at the end of the day she made a couple of mistakes. That's the heat of the moment." He plans to draw on his own experience of being disqualified in the 1994 Olympics in the 1,000m after finishing second, then coming back to win a bronze, to inspire his charge.
"Elise finished in silver medal position and had that taken away from her. It would be great if in her last distance she could come back and 'medal'," said Gooch.
"It was a very similar collision, just in a different point in the race. It's part of sport. It's like snowboard cross. Racing at close quarters and bumping into each other. It's what makes it so interesting and exciting." Reported by guardian.co.uk 1 day ago.
• BOA calls for better policing by social network sites
A 1,000m heat, even in the Olympics, would not ordinarily hold much fear for Elise Christie, the British speed skater who is a former world No1 at the distance.
But after the mental anguish of being disqualified twice and the online abuse that led Team GB to call on social networks to be better policed, Christie faces a challenge to put her demons behind her.
Her coach, the former short-track bronze medallist Nicky Gooch, said the 23-year-old was finding it "very tough" to deal with the disappointment but that she was still in with a chance of a medal at her best distance.
After being disqualified in the 1500m heats for stepping inside the finish line, Christie revealed she had been abused on Twitter by fans angry that she had caused the South Korean racer Park Seung-hi to crash in the 500m final.
In that race Christie had crossed the line in second place only to be penalised for causing a pile-up early in the race and being demoted to eighth.
Christie is not the first athlete to be targeted by trolls but team officials say the abuse, which led her to delete her Twitter account, was "unpleasant" in the extreme and inevitably affected her state of mind.
"Even the Korean girl who was first when the crash happened has come out and said this is crazy and backed Elise," said Gooch, who added that Christie had also received a lot of support from the public and elsewhere.
"We have a Korean coach within our team and he knows what has been said on the internet and there's a lot of support from Korea too. Most people who've heard about it have felt it's ridiculous."
The British Olympic Association said that more needed to be done to protect vulnerable athletes and others from abuse over social networks.
"Why are the service providers getting a free pass? It's unconscionable," said Darryl Seibel, the BOA director of communications who oversees a team responsible for guiding athletes in their use of social media . "They provide the portal. They have full sight of what's going on."
He said service providers such as Twitter and Facebook acted quickly when offensive content was flagged up but that they should do more to police their services.
Gooch admitted that Christie had found it "tough" to deal with crashing out of her first two events. He is hoping the Scot, who trains in Nottingham with the rest of the team, can put her double disqualifications out of her mind.
"This is not new. We have to deal with these problems in our sport. We'll try to think about the positives and things we can control," he said. "If we get it right on the day we will be in with a shout for medals. She's been low, disappointed and after the first night she had the hate mail. It got to her a bit but now in response to that she's had a lot of support from people."
Last year Christie was ranked No1 in the world at 1,000m and in January retained her European Championship title in Dresden.
Gooch, who won bronze in 1994 in Lillehammer, said that, too, created its own pressure because her rivals would target her.
"There is a lot of expectation to perform in this above other distances, and with other races going the way they have it creates more pressure. This is what it is to be an elite athlete. You have to deal with these things," he said. "When she's out there and racing, if we get the mind-set right, we will be fine."
He said it was important that Christie and the British team did not dwell on her disappointment or become self-indulgent, saying that the decisions to disqualify her were "50-50 calls".
"I think it's very easy to indulge in 'It's unfair and it's all going against us', but at the end of the day she made a couple of mistakes. That's the heat of the moment." He plans to draw on his own experience of being disqualified in the 1994 Olympics in the 1,000m after finishing second, then coming back to win a bronze, to inspire his charge.
"Elise finished in silver medal position and had that taken away from her. It would be great if in her last distance she could come back and 'medal'," said Gooch.
"It was a very similar collision, just in a different point in the race. It's part of sport. It's like snowboard cross. Racing at close quarters and bumping into each other. It's what makes it so interesting and exciting." Reported by guardian.co.uk 1 day ago.