KOBE - Olympic figure skating silver medalist and four-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto had heart surgery in July 2017 but kept the treatment under wraps until after retiring from competition.
In a recent interview with Kyodo News, Sakamoto said she had the procedure for an arrhythmia at the start of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic season.
The Kobe native hung up her skates in March after winning her fourth world title, a record for a Japanese skater, in the wake of her runner-up performance at the Milan Cortina Winter Games.
She first felt symptoms of the life-threatening condition in 2016, while she was competing on the junior circuit.
"I would experience intense heart palpitations -- not just a steady 'thump-thump,' but a rapid, frantic rhythm," the 26-year-old said.
Initially, leaning against the rink boards would help, but the frequency of the symptoms increased -- from once a month to two or three times a month -- eventually becoming so severe that she could only recover by lying down and elevating her legs. Standard medical checkups, however, failed to detect any abnormalities.
She experienced her most severe palpitations while training in March 2017, causing her to collapse and have blurred vision, leaving her thinking, "I'm going to die."
An electrocardiogram in May confirmed the arrhythmia and she underwent a catheter ablation -- in which a catheter is inserted into the heart to disrupt the electrical pathways causing the irregular heartbeat -- resulting in a full recovery.
Sakamoto, who went on to become a three-time Olympian, said her experience with the illness and surgery helped her career.
"The surgery is what gave me my nerves of steel, the ability to thrive on the big stage," said Sakamoto, who is enjoying life away from competition, working as a coach and skating in ice shows. "I don't miss being an active athlete. I've done enough."
With the new ISU Grand Prix season starting Friday with the Cup of France, Sakamoto is looking forward to watching the emergence of her younger compatriots.
"Once the series starts, I think I'd feel 'I'm no longer there. I can spend the October-December period feeling so relaxed,'" she said. "I believe Ami Nakai and Mao Shimada will go with the momentum using their power of youth, but it's interesting to see how skaters like Yuna Aoki and Rinka Watanabe use their experience from their time in the senior competitions."
