France’s world champion ice dancer Gabriella Papadakis has been forced to delay her season debut after suffering serious concussion in a fall during training, she has told AFP.
The Montreal-based skater suffered panic attacks, depression, memory loss and dyslexia after hitting her head on the ice during a training session last August.
“There were a lot of functions in my brain which were damaged. I have to have a sort of physiotherapy for the brain,” said Papadakis, who won ice dancing gold with her partner Guillaume Cizeron at the world championships last March.
The pair will not return to competition until November at the earliest with the Grand Prix season getting underway at Skate America on October 23.
The win in Shanghai, following their European championship victory in January, saw Papadakis and Cizeron, both 20, become the youngest world champions for 49 years.
“I feel better, a lot better but weak all the same,” Papadakis told AFP.
“I tire quite easily and once I’m tired all the symptoms return. Loss of balance, memory problems, concentration problems.”
Papadakis revealed that after the fall she had initially felt all right and had been ready to return immediately to the ice.
“My coaches said ‘you’ve just fallen on your head, go home’,” she explained.
“I was really tired throughout that day. I realised that things weren’t right, it got worse as the days passed.”
She is now undergoing treatment using a system developed by the US military to deal with serious brain injuries.
This involves having electrodes attached to her head for daily sessions over six weeks where she has to remain motionless.
“It’s very stressful and very strange. I have the impression of doing absolutely nothing. In fact it is extremely demanding.
“I feel like a vegetable for several hours after. It’s super challenging, the brain works extensively.”
Pakadakis had feared returning to the ice but is now back training although she won’t return to competition until at least the fourth in the six-leg ISU Grand Prix series — the Trophée Bompard in Bordeaux from November 13-15.
“Of course there is a part of me that is afraid that the symptoms will continue longer and that the delay that we have in our preparations will be difficult to make up,” she said.
“But I remain quite positive and I tell myself that this year isn’t an Olympic season and that we have time afterwards.
“We should have returned at the Orleans Masters (October 8-10) but we think it’s better to take the time to recover than to force things.
“It’s really not easy to begin with a Grand Prix (Bompard).
“It’s really complicated but at the same time we don’t really have the choice.”