Tragic injury ends Paris 2024 Summer Olympics dream for volleyball player from Banff, Alberta

BANFF – Pearce Eshenko didn’t plan on watching the Summer Olympics on TV this year.

The national volleyball player had a strong professional season behind him and was about to participate in the Olympic Games for the first time, a titanic goal that he has been striving for for some time.

But a broken leg threw a spanner in the works, the result of a tragic injury during tryouts less than six weeks before Paris 2024. The 26-year-old middle blocker can now do little more than support his Canadian teammates from a distance.

“When your dreams are as big as the Olympics, they naturally tend to become a part of you and when that is just taken away in a flash, it is really heartbreaking,” Eshenko said.

“But at the same time, I know whether I was in the squad or not, I still performed and presented myself in a way that I can be proud of as an athlete and as a person. And even though this bone is broken, it doesn’t change the way I approached the seasons leading up to that moment.”

On June 18, Eshenko’s season in the Philippines ended during a Nations League indoor volleyball match against Japan with a routine move he has performed hundreds of times this season.

The stakes were high for a player like Eshenko, who was one of 18 Canadians vying for a spot on the 12-man Olympic roster, and the Banff native was playing through an injury.

He had the most discomfort in his left ankle.

“I had quite a bit of Ibuprofen in my body and my ankle was taped. I pushed through the whole match despite the pain,” Eshenko said.

During the incident, Eshenko jumped up to block a point at the net but landed awkwardly, causing the 6-foot-10 middle blocker to fall straight to the ground.

“I just landed completely on my left leg, the leg that’s injured, and the only difference is my body knew it didn’t want to go into that ankle flexion position,” he said. “So your ankle flexion absorbs a lot of force when you land, and … the force went into the tibia and it broke.”

Eshenko tried to stay on the field and in the game, but he said he knew things were going badly.

“I couldn’t really walk without a limp when it happened, so I knew something pretty serious was going on,” he said. “I had to pull out because I couldn’t perform anymore. I couldn’t play.”

Eshenko suffered a non-displaced fracture at the bottom of his shin, meaning the bones remain aligned and he will not require surgery. The timeline for the bone to heal is about four to six weeks — by which time the Summer Olympics (July 26 to August 11) will have begun.

Dr. Michaela Kopka, an orthopedic surgeon at Banff Sport Medicine, who works with athletes, says Eshenko’s injury is common and he is in good position for a full recovery.

“Younger people, especially when it comes to bone and soft tissue injuries, generally heal faster, so that’s one thing that speaks in his favor… but if he was much older, maybe the recovery would be slower,” Kopka said.

On Monday (July 8), Volleyball Canada announced the roster of 12 players heading to Paris 2024.

“It is not easy to select the Olympic team and I want to thank all the players who have worked so hard for this dream of competing in the Olympic Games, including those who did not make the roster,” said Tuomas Sammelvuo, head coach of the Canadian men’s team, in a press release.

Eshenko, a member of the SL Benfica men’s volleyball team in Portugal, which recently won the Portuguese championship, said he has learned a lot from the experience, but the sooner he can put on his boots and move on, the better.

“I have a lot of friends in the (national) team, guys I really care about and guys I know really care about me, so I will still try to support them in whatever way I can,” he said.

Canada’s first game is on July 28 at 1:00 p.m. MST against Slovenia.