Elise Christie's coach Nicky Gooch has admitted that the Team GB skater has been struggling to cope with the Winter Olympic media pressure.
The 23-year-old medal hope has yet to get on the podium, although she was stripped of a silver medal in the 500m short-track final after crashing into South Korea's Park Seung-Hi.
Christie was also disqualified in the 1,500m event for skating inside the centre line and having been thrust firmly into the public spotlight, subsequently was the victim of abuse on social media sites.
Gooch has confessed that the scrutiny of her performances is uncomfortably unfamiliar to Christie, but has insisted that everyone is working to get her focused for her preferred 1,000m races on Friday.
"We've been working hard with Elise after everything that has happened. The whole team has been involved, from the psychologist to the coaches and the other athletes," Gooch told reporters.
"She is a very honest athlete, says what she's thinking, and we wouldn't change who she is. We've told her not to let things get to her and to try to prove a point. She needs to focus on things she can do, rather than the things she can't.
"In Britain, footballers and cricketers, it's their job every weekend, they're in the press. For our guys, it's once every four years. It did get into her head, the things people were saying to her. Even without those problems it is still going to be tough. She is skating well enough but the racing is difficult here; we've had world and Olympic champions fall over. There are no guarantees."
Gooch was the last British skater to win an Olympic short track medal – a 500m bronze at the Lillehammer Games in 1994.
Joe Fish
