Bgirl Stefani dreams of Paris 2024 after avoiding permanent paralysis

Originally from Ukraine but now living in London, Bgirl Stefani has had to overcome several challenges in her professional life.

Stefani, born Anna Ponomarenko, was left with half of her body paralysed in May 2017 after over-training.

She had "the biggest decision to make" between surgery, which would end her breaking career, and rehab with no guarantee of recovery.

Stefani chose the latter and was back competing within months.

Now the 27-year-old has her eye on the sport's Olympic debut at Paris 2024 where she faces another challenge, that of coming back from childbirth with her first baby due in December.

Speaking exclusively to Olympics.com, Stefani talks of her recovery from injury, the war in Ukraine, and her dream of Paris 2024.

Olympics.com: Five years ago, you had some serious medical issues that stopped you from training. Can you tell us what happened?

Stefani: I had a hernia (when an organ or tissue pushes through a weakness in the muscle or surrounding tissue wall) and I didn't know about it. One day, the hernia pinched the nerve. I became paralysed, half of my body became paralysed.

In the moment, when you wake up, when you open your eyes, and you cannot move... it is so scary.

When I came to hospital, they told me that I have two options: I had to have the operation, but I would not be able to dance anymore. Or I can do some rehabilitation, but my nerves could be damaged and leave me paralysed forever. It was the biggest decision in my life to make.

I just could not imagine that I would stop dancing. For me, sport is everything. And I could not imagine that... From tomorrow, that is it, everything is finished.

I was only 22 years old. I decided, "I am not going to be paralysed." It felt like a joke, you know? So, I decided that I will work hard. I will try to do my best and I will not have the surgery. It was the best decision of my life.

Olympics.com: When you're an elite athlete and you're giving your best sometimes you can over-train trying to achieve the best results. Where is that line where you have to stop and tell yourself to take it easy?

Stefani: The problem is breaking has only very recently been called a sport. And now we know that we must check our bodies, we have to take care of ourselves, we have to visit doctors. But before no one knew.

I visited my first doctor after 10 years of doing sports because no one ever told me that you have to be careful. You have to recover. You don't have to train three times a day without a day off. It was difficult to understand that I have to care for my body. This is why we had so many injuries. That's why so many breaking athletes stop their careers so early. But now we have more information, we begin to become more professional.

I think now everyone understands that you have to care about yourself and that you have to feel your body. If you're feeling tired, you have to rest. If you feel that you have some problem, you have to go and check it with doctor.

Olympics.com: Why do you think you pushed yourself to that extent?

Stefani: I began to do sports when I was four years old. After school I went to hundreds of different practices: I did ice skating, I did so many different sports and all my life was just about that. I could not imagine it was going to stop. So, I did not have a choice, or time to stop and think, "Okay, if my sporting career is going to stop, what am I going to do?"

Olympics.com: You're originally from Ukraine and, of course, it must be hard to focus when the armed conflict is happening there as we speak. How do you manage to concentrate on your goals and compete?

Stefani: My family is there. The first month and a half I could not train at all because it was difficult to realise that I was not able to visit my family anymore, that something could happen to them.

It was just so difficult because I've been safe, I stayed in the UK, but the people most important to me are in this dangerous place. It was so difficult, because it is not safe there but my family... they try to live their life. They try to enjoy the moment; they try to celebrate some holidays.

They believe in me. They want me to be happy. They want me to do my best step-by-step. I want to push hard. I want to do something. And for my family, it is better if I do something, achieve something. If I have a better life, then I can help them.

Olympics.com: Nelson Mandela said that sport has the power to bring peace. What are your thoughts on this?

Stefani: I really want to believe that this is true because we, Ukrainian people, try to be in this together. We are strong because we have really talented people, and we are going to be fine. I hope everything will be fine in our country.

Olympics.com: How do you feel about breaking making its Olympic debut at Paris 2024 and will we see you there?

Stefani: I'm actually so excited about this. When we found out about it becoming an Olympic sport, people had so many different opinions. So many breakers prefer it to be a street culture, they didn't understand how they could manage it - breaking and sports.

But for me, it's now a different motivation. I am used to doing sports. As I said, I used to skate. You know, when you do sports just for joy, it's not pushing you a lot. But when you do it as a (professional) sport it opens up so many more opportunities, it brings you to the future. This is motivating me a lot. I hope that I will make it to the Olympic Games in 2024.