ELISE Christie is a firm believer in karma, which helps when your chosen sport is short-track speed skating.

It is one of the most fickle disciplines at the Winter Olympics, an event where even multiple world champions can be exposed in a flurry of flailing arms and legs.

So Christie takes no pleasure from the news that China's Wang Meng, the four-time Olympic and 18-time world champion, is absent from Sochi - even if her odds have shortened as a result.

Wang, her nation's most successful winter Olympian, sustained an ankle injury in training last month and has been ruled out of defending her three Olympic titles.

"I was devastated for her, especially as it could be her last Games," said 23-year-old Christie, who took bronze behind Wang over 1000metres at last year's World Championships.

"We were all upset for her. You are taking a big medal contender out of it, which does make your life easier but no one wants that."

The Livingston-born skater knows all about the peaks and troughs of her sport.

At last year's Olympic qualifier in Russia she was hospitalised after a crash most people thought had ended her Sochi ambitions. But 24 hours later she returned to the ice to win bronze.

At the recent European Championships she was left downbeat after failing to defend her 1500m title and yet rallied to win over 1000m the following day.

Other problems have conspired against her. She started the season with a dose of mumps, then the death of her grandmother affected her displays at World Cup events in Shanghai and Seoul.

"It's not been the easiest year for me but everyone has difficulties, so it's not that I'm in an usual position," she said.

"The Europeans was a confidence boost for me, winning the gold medal showed perseverance can pay off."

Christie likes to keep her tactics simple in a sport best described as a human version of the dodgems and doesn't worry about being labelled one of the big medal hopes of the 56-strong British team.

"I have two simple plans when I start the race and pick one and hope it works," she added. "Just prior to the race I'm going to decide what I'm going to do and go with instinct.

"You can't base your dreams in this sport solely on an Olympic medal because you need things to go right on the day. I know I'm driven, committed and I train really hard. I can't base my whole career just on how I do in this event.

"However, I'm skating the best I've ever skated and you can't say more than that when you arrive at the Olympics."

The British Olympic Association is the National Olympic Committee for Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The BOA prepares the "Best of British" athletes for, and leads them at, the summer, winter and youth Olympic Games. The BOA is dependent on fundraising income to achieve its mission. www.teamgb.com @TeamGB