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Ermin Yusufovic still remembers the moment he woke up in his hospital bed in 1997, more than a year after the war in Bosnia ended.
He heard a voice, his father’s voice, and those words changed his life: “You don’t have legs anymore.”
27 years later, the 43-year-old Jusufovic has become one of the main players of the Bosnian sitting volleyball team.
A gold medalist at the Athens and London Paralympics, he now also has two silver medals and a bronze. Now, the 2022 World Cup MVP is aiming for a sixth Paralympic medal in Paris.
It was an extraordinary journey that began on May 19, 1997, a few days before his 16th birthday, in a village near Lukavac in the northeast of the country.
Yusufovich was working in the fields with his mother and twin brothers.
Rather than taking a 30-meter detour to avoid the “suspicious plot” that was on the front line during the 1992-95 war, he decided to walk through it.
“Something happened. I didn’t realise it was an explosion,” Yusufovich told AFP
“I fell to the ground and lay there motionless. I smelled black powder. It was a mine.”
Then darkness fell.
– ‘You have to accept it’ –
Yusufovic is not the first to make a mistake in Bosnia. According to official figures, mine accidents in the country since the war have injured more than 1,150 people and killed 624.
He is a relatively lucky one.
When he came to the hospital, his family stayed with him.
“I asked my parents if my legs were cut off,” he said.
“From what I saw, I knew it couldn’t be saved.”
“My mom stuttered a few words. Then my dad said, ‘Your legs are gone. You’re going to have to accept that. You have to live with it.’
“Then the tears started flowing, and everything else you would expect in a situation like this. It went on for six months.
“Then, when I put on my first prosthetic limb, I shed my first tears of joy.”
A few months later, this joy brought another good fortune. The coach of the local sitting volleyball club discovered him at a medical institution and invited him to participate in training.
“I said OK, I’ll come,” Yusufovich said, laughing. “Then I went home and said to myself, this is over. It’s unimaginable for anyone to see me without a leg.”
Although he didn’t go that time, it opened the door for him and after meeting current national team teammate Safet Alibasic in the recovery bath, he changed his mind.
Yusufovich decided to take part in his first training session with Alibasic. That was in 1998.
He remembers the following training as “very hard” and very physically demanding, but he suddenly had a boost. He kept working out at home, losing 30 kilograms in a year, getting fit and improving his game.
– “Best Self” –
Three years later, Yusufovic was selected for the Hungarian national team and won the European Championship.
He has not missed a major tournament since, with Bosnia becoming Iran’s only real, consistent rival, while Iran remains the benchmark for Paralympic worlds, winning seven gold medals and two silvers in nine Paralympic Games.
In addition to winning gold medals in 2004 and 2012, the Bosnian team has won three world championships and 11 European championships.
Iran and Bosnia will once again be favourites in Paris: they are in different groups and cannot meet until the semi-finals or final.
Yusufovich is far from the oldest player on the team, but he has to balance his sports career, family life and day job.
The father of two works in the sports and youth sector for the Tuzla Cantonal Government.
But he has no regrets about his 23-year sporting career, not least because it allowed him to travel the world, make friends and have a supportive family who are “vital” to him.
“There were many times I thought about giving up. I questioned if I needed this,” he admitted.
“But one thing I am sure of is that I am the best version of myself on the sitting volleyball court. That’s what keeps me going.”
“Once I started training, I never asked myself why I came.
“Sometimes I say: I’m glad I lost my legs.”
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