"An endearingly honest, inspirational account of inner strength and mental health from the multi-medal-winning speed skater."
Unflinchingly frank, Elise Christie’s autobiography recounts her experiences as an elite athlete - the immense pressures, the ups, the downs, the triumphs and the trials - alongside sharing her struggles with self-harm, low self-esteem and PTSD. While getting the inside story of what it’s like to compete at such an elite level is compelling and revelatory (as Triple World Champion, ten-time European Champion and former world record holding short track speed skater Christie sure knows what that’s like), Resilience is a sports autobiography that transcends the genre.
Christie’s voice is incredibly engaging - the book’s style is conversational, chatty, witty, and strong. Here she tells it like it is no matter what her subject - relationship break-ups, corrupt doping practices, dubious penalty and disqualification decisions, the abuse she endured (including death threats) in the aftermath of an incident at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Then there’s her struggles with self-harm, which she explains provided “a good couple of hours of relief” while acknowledging that she “absolutely hated myself for doing it, I thought it was so fucking weak.” Powerful stuff, and always shot-through with an inspirational steely determination that will see Christie compete in the 2022 Beijing Olympics - “Whatever happens going forward, I’ll be fine. And that includes the Olympics in 2022.”
| Primary Genre | Biographies & Autobiographies |
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