Ice
Time with Debbi Wilkes
December 1998
Debbi's intro: Here in Canada the biggest news has been about what has been referred to as the most famous groin injury in Canadian history. The story about the effects of Elvis Stojko's continuing battle with the injury that sidelined him following Nagano. During the Welcome Back Elvis Tour, I had the pleasure of traveling with Elvis and the rest of the company for a whole weekend, and I witnessed first hand the hard work and awful hours that made this year's tour a success. But hiding in the back of every member's mind was the question of Elvis' health. Every city saw him skate full out, he signed thousands of autographs and happily met the huge demands of media and sponsors. But finally, in Hamilton last weekend he faced the consequences of the increasing pain and made the unbearable decision not to skate - forced to watch his own show from the sidelines. Elvis agreed to talk with me earlier this week near his home ice in Barrie.
Debbi: This whole Hamilton thing, I mean it came...I'm sure it didn't come out of left field, but, tell us exactly what happened.
Elvis: Well, umm, the week prior when I had skated in Toronto, and we had three shows to do that weekend, the Toronto show was very difficult of course because we're doing...taking care of two television shoots and then working all day, then again, we get there to Sudbury, we get to Ottawa that night. Getting to bed late, doing all this other stuff, umm the leg's tired. Do another two shows during the week, my leg was really sore by Thursday. I just got through that show in Halifax - I was kind of worried but I thought I could make it if I just kind of held back a little bit and watched the leg - and it was okay. Friday, it was sore. Saturday, was very tight and it was the last show - Hamilton is a great city for skating - great fans, great people.
Debbi: You've had some wonderful moments there.
Elvis: Yes...
Debbi: You've had some incredible performances there.
Elvis: Yes...and I got off practice and I said to Uschi "I'm a little spooked...a little spooked about this" she goes "Why?" I said "My leg is really sore. I said "Every move I make...."
Debbi: Sorer than normal or sorer than what you had to deal with?
Elvis: Yeah, sorer than what I've had to deal with in the last...say...2 months - 2 1/2 months. Because, when I was skating in Skate America and Skate Canada, the leg was strong enough to handle 2 weeks of intense and then I could relax. And you know, the leg didn't even burn the whole time we were there, but the toll of doing lots of numbers and not going to bed at an early time because we're travelling and I need to get the sleep and the rest...and this needs rest more than anything. Umm...the muscles...you know I can deal with getting tired muscles, I can go out there and work through it, but I'm talking about when the leg starts getting tight and you know that if you go out there again and do another jump - it could be a jump, it could be a spin, could be anything - where as soon as you know if you start the program you can't stop, you can't just go in the middle "I can't do it 'cause I'm going to hurt myself." You know I had to make the decision before I went out there. It took a while to make the decision because I really wanted to skate and when Uschi looked in my eyes and said...you know... "I don't think this is a good idea. If you are really worried, then I think we've got a pretty good idea of what's going on." Because, I can handle things. In Ottawa, I was tired and I pulled out a number and I made things work...you know...I made it work the best I could and I give it my 100%, but if I would have went out there and skated, I think I would have taken a risk of injuring it, taking out the year, but also - chronic injury - taking out my career.
Debbi: Yeah, I had a sense that you were in trouble in Ottawa. There we are, landing at Ottawa airport, the bus picks us up and we have about a 1/2 hour drive into Ottawa and my vision of you is lying there in the seat beside me, on your back, with your feet up the window and I knew you were exhausted.
Elvis: I was very exhausted. In that show we did in Ottawa, after the group number we did, I was white...my lips were white...Uschi and my mom came in and everyone was like "Are you all right?" And I go "I'm over exhausted, I'm really tired." I said "This weekend just kicked me so bad." I mean, I give 100% all the time, but it was really difficult and we tried to schedule it so that we didn't have three shows in a row. I can do three shows in a row, however, we did the show on Friday...we were there all day...and it's the travelling and I didn't realize that the scheduling was that we would get into Ottawa 3:00 in the morning and then have to skate at 4:00 in the afternoon again - after you've done two big shows - gone to bed no earlier than 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. That's what it's like. Everyone thinks it's glamorous - but it's not, and I don't mind going through that, but I'm dealing with an injury as well and that was hard. I knew I could get through it if I had everything, and no problem, I got through it no problem, but, by the end of the week, my leg took a toll and it told me hey, you better back off or you know, you're going to be stressing it too much and I had to make a decision, and it was so hard for me.
Clip of Elvis at the Hamilton show telling the crowd he couldn't skate...
Elvis: I had a hard time going up there to speak.
Debbi: I know what you're like. You're so committed to your fans, what was it like to watch this?
Elvis: I watched as much of it as I could because it was so hard for me to watch, because you want to be out there - it's the last show. One of the skaters, a couple of the skaters - a couple of the girls came up to me and said "How are you doing?" Constantly, everyone was asking me "How are you doing?" as the show was going on, and I said "I'm having a hard time with this." And they said "Well, you've been holding us up, doing the tour for 5 years, now it's our turn to hold you up for the show." That meant a lot. I've always tried to be the strong one, to keep everything together, and when things were getting all hectic around me, when people were getting all flustered, usually I'm in the centre very calm, because I know I've got the confidence, I've got the strength to make it through. This time I couldn't do it, so, everybody around me was helping me and I remember going into the dressing room and I had to make an announcement and told the skaters I can't do it and I cried and some of the skaters came up and they were crying and said "It's okay, we'll be there for you. We're going to make the best show. We're going to give it everything we've got. We'll skate for you tonight. We'll just make it work!" You know, when you look back, it's a couple hours of your life....
Debbi: Yeah, but they're important hours to you...
Elvis: But, they're very important...they're very important hours to me. And also too, that show could have made a difference if I'd skated - to the rest of my career.
Debbi: So what do you want to say to your fans? What about Canadians?
Elvis: I will be fine for Canadians. I don't know if my leg will be 100% but I know I can skate at a very high level even if my leg's at 95%. I know I can be there. I've had aches and pains, so even when I'm skating and I have a bit of aching that means it's there but I can still do my thing. They don’t have to worry...
Debbi: Okay, then when I get all the e-mails from everybody asking how you are, I can say...you're going to great...
Elvis: I'm going to be fine, it's going to be okay, it's a very tough injury to get through but you have to be smart about it. That's what I did in Hamilton - I was being smart. For the people in Hamilton too, they're one of the best skating cities in Canada. I've had some great memories there - Nationals, Grand Prix Final - putting the quad/triple down, and the great competitions we've had with Kurt - they've been wonderful.
Debbi: And you know what? You will be back there to give them more wonderful memories too. Thank you very much for spending some time with us today.
Elvis: Thank you. (smiles and that adorable waggling of the eyebrows)
(Post interview) The most remarkable young man.
Thank you to Dee for this transcription