Anxious moments for Igali

March 1 2003

Canada's gold-medal wrestling hero Daniel Igali has fears his athletic career could be over after neck surgery
The Nigerian-born wrestler who captured Canadian hearts when he ran a circle around his adopted Maple Leaf flag and wept joyously at the Sydney Olympics, returned to his home in Surrey, B.C., yesterday from a five-day hospital stay, uncertain whether he'd be on a mat again.

"To be honest, I'm more concerned about being able to tie my shoes again, or take a shower, just to resume a normal life," said Igali, who is sleeping in a neck brace to keep his head still at night.

He went into hospital with a ruptured disc in his neck. Igali said doctors in Vancouver cut through the front of his neck to get to the cervical vertebrae and fused two of them together.

"I'll have to be patient and give myself a lot of time to recover as completely as I can. If I can compete without any problems or complications, I could come back. The only reason I had the operation was to have a chance to come back. But if there's any hint I can reinjure it, my career is done.

"As it is I've been told I'll lose 10 per cent of the flexibility there. I don't want to try and come back too soon. I know people start to recover, feel good and then immediately something happens and they have a relapse."