Jonathan:  Probably, it sure didn't help anything.  As we know it now, the size of the rink was too small.  I don't think it affected the skating in general, only the falls.  The mats were not very good, either.

JG.com:  Why did Canada pull out of the 3000m and 5000m races?

Jonathan:  Because of those things:  the size of the rink, the mats, the injuries.

Jonathan:  No, because when the Korean skater hit my blade, I fell on my side and I knew I could not recover before hitting the mats.

Jonathan:  I was not sure, but the way I was going into the mats I was afraid so.  The only thing I was thinking about was the blades.  I did not want to get cut.  Seung-Jae's blades were very close to my body, and I didn't want either of us to get cut, so I raised my legs in the air to avoid cutting him.

JG.com:  When you hit the wall, did you know that you had broken something?

Jonathan:  Surgery went very well.  It took 3 hours.  They will remove the metal pieces in about 4 months, so around August.

JG.com:  What is the name of the doctor (or doctors) who performed the surgery?

Jonathan:  I don't remember his name.  But I remember his face.  ;o)  I'm not good with names, but I never forget a face.

JG.com:  Who stayed with you in the hospital while you were in Sweden?

Jonathan:  My girlfriend Amélie and my coach Guy Thibault were there the whole time and my mother arrived just after my surgery.

JG.com:  What was it like flying home on the plane?  Was a doctor there with you?  What special provisions were made to assure a safe trip home?

Jonathan:  It was great.  I was in first class on Air France.  Good service.  ;o)  There was a nurse who was traveling with me (the insurance company wanted that).

JG.com:  What has your recovery been like?  What will you have to do for your physical therapy?

Jonathan:  Right now I only have to rest for a month so the bone can heal.  Once that's done, I will start to do some rehab for the muscles and ligaments.  I have a very good team of people around me in Montréal.

JG.com:  How will recovery from this injury differ from your femur fracture (other than the fact that one was a leg and one was a back injury?)

Jonathan:  Well, like you are saying, this one is the back.  The other time it was the femur.  Because this is a sport that uses the legs a lot, I would say that the recovery for my femur fracture was the hardest one.  I could not walk at all for a month then.  Now, with my back, I am able to walk, sit by myself, go to bed by myself and take my shower alone.  I am much more independent and I feel less like an handicapped person than I felt 5 years ago.

JG.com:  Will you be able to return to skating?

Jonathan:  Oh yes, I was pretty lucky.  The vertebra fractured horizontally and opened when I hit the boards, then came back to the same place right after.  It could have touched the neural part easily [the spinal cord] and I could have been paralyzed for the rest of my life.  But thankfully it's only the bone that was affected, so as soon as that is healed (takes 4 to 6 weeks) I will be able to bend over again and then start training easily.  In 3 months I can start skating again.

JG.com:  This is sort of silly, but does it hurt when you sneeze or when you laugh?

Jonathan:  The first 2 weeks it did a lot.  Now it's getting better.  At the hospital after the surgery I was having some secretions and it made me cough a lot.  I had to concentrate to control that because it was hurting a lot.  Same thing when I was laughing or sneezing.  I think its like a rib fracture.  It would hurt when you do those things, too.

JG.com:  Is there anything else about the incident, the surgery or the recovery that was not asked that you would like to share?

Jonathan:  Yes, there is.  I had planned a long vacation with my girlfriend after the World Championships.  We were supposed to come back to Montréal for a week and then leave for forty days in southeast Asia:  one week in Cambodia and the rest in Thailand and maybe Malaysia, too.  Our plane tickets were booked and paid for, but I will have to take this trip next year instead.  That was the first thing I thought about when I was lying on the ice.  I was so frustrated because of that, and I still am.