Fingers crossed Elise Christie gets slice of lady luck she deserves

Four years of hard work, focusing towards this one particular moment, and it was over in a flash. Given the difficult time Elise encountered at the last winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014, when she suffered a triple disqualification and was then trolled by the many fans of the South Korean athlete, who blamed Elise for the crash, this was a pivotal moment for the skater, and yet, sadly, not to be.

She does have two other races left and I am sure that the whole of Scotland will be behind her, willing her to go on. We all know she is capable of winning, she knows she is capable, her coaches know, and there is the little matter of the three golds and a bronze that she won at the World Championships last year that basically confirm this.

So what we need here is that little bit extra, something that we don’t really speak of that isn’t part of her training programme. It’s just a little luck that she needs and I hope it is on her side tomorrow. This extraordinary young women, who left her home in Livingston age 15 to pursue her dream of becoming a speed skater, just needs a little luck, because as far as I can see her commitment, talent and dedication are not in question at all. I’ve got my fingers and toes crossed!

I had the pleasure of interviewing cyclist and Silver Commonwealth medallist Charlene Joiner and her fiancée, rugby player Lee Jones on Tuesday night on RockSport Radio #letshearitforthegirls. I really enjoyed this interview, both were great fun and not against doing a little Mr&Mrs test to see who knew the most about each other. I’ll not reveal who the winner was, all I will say is Charlene told me Lee was a winner the moment she agreed to marry him!

Now retired from competitive cycling, Charlene has turned her talents to yoga and has qualified as a yoga teacher. She now counts both Scottish Rugby and the Braehead Clan as two of her clients. Totally enthusiastic about the benefits of yoga, Charlene also works with some of Scotland’s up and coming young cyclists and there are a few of them about.

I caught up with Elsie Cook this week for a chat around our Pioneers in Sport day as one of Elsie’s contemporaries, Edna Nellis, will be inducted in the SW/S Hall of Fame on Saturday 4th March: Edna, sadly passed away at the early age of 62. Playing alongside Rose Reilly, who is well known for the heights she reached whilst playing in Italy in the 70’s, Edna’ s achievements didn’t receive the same coverage and her name isn’t so well known, and this is something many people in the football world would like to see changed. Whilst Rose was inducted into the Football Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame, Edna’s exploits remain largely unrecognised by those who could bestow her the deserved credit, although there have been several attempts to change that, by many of those who know exactly what Edna did achieve.

In fact Edna represented Scotland in the first official women’s international match in 1972, against England which was held in Greenock. She then mirrored Rose’s career up to a point as they both went to France to trial for Rheims and then over to Italy to play and become stars of AC Milan. They both made good money at that time and in 1975 AC Milan won the Serie A title and the Italian Cup with two goals from Edna and one from Rose, giving them a 3-0 victory over Lazio. Edna stayed there till 1990 and during that time she lifted two more Italian Cups.

Meanwhile, among others, we will also induct another football player into our Hall of Fame, Helen Graham Matthews, born in 1857. She was a Scottish suffragette and women’s footballer and was the founding member of Mrs Grahams X1 which is still, to this day, widely considered to be the first British women’s football team.

So why not join us to recognise these amazing women on March 4 in Glasgow.