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Olympic Pair Champion Recovering from Stroke

Oleg and Lumila Protopopov with students of the Adult Pairs Track during Adult Week at the Olympic Arena in Lake Placid, NY

Seventy-seven year old two time Olympic Pairs champion, Oleg Protopopov suffered a stroke on Friday October 9th that caused right-sided paralysis. The days before were regular training days at the rink. He and his wife and partner, Olympic Champion, Ludmila Protopopov, train daily at the Olympic Center ice rink in Lake Placid.

In hospital, it was found Oleg needed a pacemaker for a slow heart beat which may have contributed to the stroke since he had no other risk factors other than being 77 years old. By the third day in hospital, Oleg had already made huge strides in healing. First he regained the power to walk, then the use of his upper body. His facial paralysis resolved, and now he can even do an "arabesque" holding onto a chair.

Ludmila, who stayed 24/7 at his side in hospital, says that they hope to return to the ice sometime in early November. Right now, they are walking daily and doing therapeutic exercises. Speech and writing is still slow and challenging with English and Russian being intermingled, but is improving daily.

You can send well-wishes to the Protopopovs by clicking the title link above and signing up to receive free updates on Oleg's progress.

Six ISI Adult National Gold Medals for Olympic Center Team

Lake Placid – The International Skating Institute (ISI) held its long-running Adult Nationals Championships at the Olympic Center for the first time. Over 100 skaters and officials attended and there were 169 events at the championships. The ISI is the governing body for recreational ice skating. Local figure skaters, Karen Kan and James Gann, entered the competition in nine events and won six gold, one silver, one fourth and one fifth place finishes. They entered the artistic solo, jump and spin, solo compulsory and solo surprise events.

Coached by long-time Skating Club of Lake Placid coach, Jack Devitt, this was the first time Gann, formerly an aggressive inline skater, had entered a skating competition as a solo skater. In his debut as a competitive ice skater, he had won a gold medal in pairs at the 2008 US Figure Skating Adult National Championships. Gann was admittedly nervous for his first solo performance, but said he used many of his personal growth tools to stay “present” and to enjoy himself out on the ice. His program netted a silver medal and an appreciative audience.

Kan won gold in all her events except for the “Solo Surprise” where competitors are not told what they will be asked to perform out on the ice. The event is less about skating skills than it is about having a lot of fun. In Kan’s group, the task was to put on and lace one’s skates up as fast as possible and race to the end of the rink. Kan, usually a serious competitor, laughed about entering the “surprise event” saying, “I always have my eye out for the gold medal. It’s actually a stretch for me to enter an event that I couldn’t possibly train for, so I’m proud of myself for trying it….I didn’t even know they gave medals out for fourth place!” Photos of the event can be found on www.adultfigureskater.com