Amateur Career
Manley finished in 13th place at the 1982 World Championships, but the 1982–83 skating season proved disastrous for her. Relocating from Ottawa to Lake Placid, New York to receive more intensive training, Manley became depressed and homesick, which resulted in her hair falling out and weight gain. She failed to win a medal at the 1983 Canadian National Championships and briefly dropped out of the sport, but she agreed to resume her skating career upon receiving a coaching offer by Peter and Sonya Dunfield. Manley competed in the 1984 Winter Olympics, placing 13th, and the World Figure Skating Championships between 1984 and 1987. At the 1987 World Championships, 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 4th place overall in the competition.
Entering the 1988 Winter Olympics, few skating pundits and media analysts considered Manley to be a contender for an Olympic medal, and she received no offers of sponsorships. 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 life, winning the long program and coming within a fraction of a point of beating Witt for the Olympic title. Her come-from-behind victory made her a national celebrity in Canada.
After winning the silver medal at the 1988 World Championships, Manley retired from amateur skating.
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