Belle Brockhoff: Top Aussie athlete opens up about horror injury that almost left her in a wheelchair and saw her get nappy rash from wearing adult diapers

Australian snowboarder Belle Brockhoff has opened up about the harrowing high-speed crash that left her with a serious spinal injury and almost ended her career.

The three-time Winter Olympian was airlifted to hospital last month after she crashed while competing in a World Cup race in Georgia.

The 32-year-old from Melbourne landed hard on her coccyx and fractured her L1 vertebrae.

She was transported to a hospital in Tbilisi, where scans confirmed the injury. Fortunately, there was no neurological damage. Given the seriousness of the break, she was evacuated to Athens for surgery on her fractured back.

‘I didn’t realise the severity of it,’ Brockhoff told News Corp.

‘I have had so many people, including specialists, saying, “You’re so lucky. It could have been a lot worse, it could have hit your spinal cord and that would have been the end of your career, including walking”. 

Aussie Olympian Belle Brockhoff broke her back after a horror during competition at the Snowboard Cross World Cup in Georgia

The 32-year-old from Melbourne landed hard on her coccyx and fractured her L1 vertebrae

‘A few people have said that over the last three weeks since my surgery and I’m like, ‘Oh, f***, should I be more concerned?’

‘If I nicked the spinal cord, even just a fragment of bone just touched it a little bit, I could have had nerve damage and all kinds of issues, maybe not had the use of your leg, or both legs.’

Brockhoff said she had crashed in a similar way many times before – but she knew immediately that something was different this time around.

‘One of my coaches came down and I said, “Hey, I have broken my back”. So I just stayed in a very still position because you don’t know,’ Brockhoff said.

‘He knew a little bit about spine stuff, just common sense stuff and felt my hamstring, my quad, my glutes, my calves just to see if I had any feeling.

‘I was crying. I was in a little bit of pain, but I wasn’t crying because of the pain, I was crying because I had just come back (from injury). Just from this high to the low really got me.’

Brockhoff says she now has a much bigger appreciation for being able to walk and perform simple tasks.

‘They put six pins in and then two rods on each side, so the two vertebrae above the L1 vertebrae they fixed and then the bottom single vertebrae underneath the broken one, they also fixed as well,’ Brockhoff said.

Brockhoff says she knew immediately that there was serious damage when she landed

The Aussie is hoping to make it to her fourth Winter Olympics next year in Italy

‘So that was to basically stabilise the broken vertebrae so it could heal without collapsing on itself.

‘The surgeon said the spine had compressed a bit, so there was a bit of pressure on my spinal cord. With the robotics, the incisions are very minimal compared to what I expected – I thought they were going to rip me right open and I’d have these crazy scars.

‘But he said he had to put a balloon-like contraption to create space in my spine so that he could put the fixtures in and so he could hold it open.

‘Until about six weeks – when the bone fully heals – leading up to that point I still have a risk of it collapsing on itself. So I have to be quite careful with what I do, I can’t put weight on my spine that creates pressure.’

Brockhoff, now back in Melbourne recovering from surgery, is well and truly on the mend.

‘I’ve got some great stories from it, including having to wear an adult diaper for a few days,’ Brockhoff said.

‘That was post-surgery when I was just laying there because your bowels don’t really do anything when you’re laying there and you’re not eating much either, so that was an interesting experience.

Brockhoff is carried off the course by ski patrol on a stretcher after crashing during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

‘I got nappy rash as well, so that was great experiencing that as a 32-year-old.’

‘There are some funny things to laugh at. If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry, right? You may as well make some jokes about it.’

The Australian is hoping to make it to her fourth Winter Olympics next year in Italy – but she has a lot of work to do between now and then. 

Brockhoff will know more about her chances after she gets scans back to see how her back is healing. 

‘Anything is possible. That’s completely my intention to come back,’ Brockhoff said.

‘I think it is important for me to do this rehab and get my body back to what it was as much as I can right up to the Olympics.

‘I am wholeheartedly committed to getting there, but at the same time I have to consider all the risks and make sure that I do this as safely as possible because it is an action sport and no one goes through the season without having crashes.

‘It could have been worse, I could have done this crash right before the Games as well. I still have a chance which is positive.’

This injury comes just 11 months before the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy and follows a long history of perseverance through physical setbacks.

Brockhoff has sustained multiple injuries throughout her career, including what her surgeon once described as ‘the worst’ broken wrist they had ever seen.

At the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, she competed with her knee taped and braced after having an ACL removed.

Brockhoff is also no stranger to dramatic crashes.

At the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, she suffered a heavy fall in the mixed team snowboard cross event and was carried off the course on a stretcher.

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