Manley began skating at an early age. Her mother invested time and money in her daughter's figure skating career. and the World Championships between 1984 and 1987. At the
1987 Worlds, she was in a position to vie for the world title after
compulsory figures and the short program, but a poor result in the long program left her in fourth place overall in the competition. Entering the
1988 Winter Olympics, few skating know-hows and media analysts considered Manley to be a contender for an Olympic medal. Battling illness, she nevertheless did well in
compulsory figures and the short program. Heading into the long program, she was in third place behind the East German skater
Katarina Witt and the American skater
Debi Thomas. Witt and Thomas were both favourites for the gold medal, and the media had dubbed their rivalry as the "
Battle of the Carmens", as both women chose to skate to music from the opera
Carmen. Witt skated her long program cleanly but conservatively, and Thomas fell apart in her long program. Elizabeth Manley, however, gave the performance of her career, one so widely recognized as a very special performance that announcer Jim McKay said, "Wouldn't it be great if every human being could have a moment like this once in their lives?" Manley won the long program and came within a fraction of a point of beating Witt for the Olympic title. Her come-from-behind placement made her a national celebrity in Canada. After winning the silver medal at the
1988 World Championships, Manley retired from amateur skating. == Later career ==