Winter Olympics digest: dream is over for Team GB’s Elise Christie
Non-alcoholic beer fuels German success, while Japanese ski jumping legend Noriaki Kasai says he’ll return for Beijing 2022
More heartbreak for skater Elise Christie
Team GB short track speed skater Elise Christie was disqualified today in the 1,000m heats, which ends her hopes of winning a medal at the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.
Christie was penalised in all three of her events at Sochi 2014. She will leave South Korea empty-handed after again missing out in the 500m, 1,000m and 1,500m speed skating events.
Unfit going into the 1,000m fifth heat after injuring her ankle in Saturday’s 1,500m semi-final, Christie fell on the first start but initially finished second after the restart. But she had to suffer the heartbreak of being given a yellow card after incurring two penalties.
Despite the disqualification and her previous experiences at the Winter Olympics, Christie said that PyeongChang was very different to Sochi. She said: “I’m in a different place to Sochi. I’m a world champion and a world record holder and I’ve proved myself but I really wanted to bring it home for Great Britain.
“It really meant a lot to me and I’m devastated that I didn’t. I have some ligament damage. I was given advice and told I could choose whether I wanted to race. Obviously there are all these risks and I thought I’m at the Olympics, I’ve trained years for this, I’m going to give it a go. That’s what I did.”
Is non-alcoholic beer helping Germany win medals?
Germany are currently second in the PyeongChang medals table and the secret to their success could be down to non-alcoholic beer.
The New York Times reports that German athletes have been drinking non-alcoholic beer as part of their recovery after competing in the winter games. The Krombacher brewery has supplied 3,500 litres (1,000 gallons) of non-alcoholic beer to the athletes’ village. Biathlete Simon Schempp and skier Linus Strasser are just two of the German team who enjoy a nice cold (non-alcoholic) beer after an event.
Schempp, who won silver in the 15km mass start event on Sunday, said: “It’s a really good drink directly after training or after competition.” Skier Strasser added: “It tastes good and it’s good for the body. Alcohol-free wheat beer is extremely healthy. It’s isotonic. That’s why it’s good for us sports guys.”
Ski jumper Kasai, 45, will return for 2022
Japanese ski jumper Noriaki Kasai may be 45 years old, but he says he will definitely compete at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
The ski jumping legend won medals in 1994 and 2014 and will go again in four years’ time in what would be his ninth Winter Olympics. He told The Guardian: “I’m not going to try, I will definitely be there. I watched the others win medals and it fired me up. I can still keep going. I am by no means finished.
“I want to work on my jumps the next four years and perfect them. If I can bring myself to peak form then I can medal as an individual, help the team medal. I’m thrilled to have competed for the eighth time, but equally annoyed that I couldn’t win a medal. I only showed half of what I can do here. The other half, I’ll show in four years’ time.”
