Admir Cejvanovic found a Pan Am gold medal at the end of his yellow brick road.
The 25-year-old rugby 7’s national team player shared that medal with an enthusiastic 20,000-strong Pan Am Games host crowd in Toronto following Canada’s 22-19 victory over Argentina on July 12.
“I just jumped into the air. The satisfaction of knowing (we had won gold) was phenomenal. We all went nuts, just losing it. It was pretty cool,” said Cejvanovic.
But earlier in the day, everything was not unfolding according to the game plan for the Burnaby Central Secondary grad.
Leading 12-5 in Canada’s semifinal against the United States, Cejvanovic drew a yellow card on America’s game-tying try, enabling the U.S. to take a seven-point lead while the 6-3, 240-pound forward cooled his heels in the sin bin.
When the Burnaby product returned to the field he told his team captain he wanted the ball.
“I had to make up for that (penalty),” Cejvanovic said.
With less than a minute left to play and the score knotted at 19-19, Canada pinned the U.S. in their own half and were eventually awarded a five-metre scrum.
The Americans came away with a tap penalty, but Mack stole the ball in contact and got it to teammate John Moonlight, who relayed the pill to a charging Cejvanovic.
“I saw my gap, put my head down, kept my feet moving and put the ball down (in the end zone),” said Cejvanovic of his game-winning score.
“To me it was crazy. I went from ‘I don’t think I’ll ever play rugby again,’ to putting my team into the critical gold-medal game,” he said.
For those who grew up with the Burnaby product, the outcome at the Pan Ams does not sound so fantastic.
In 2008, Cejvanovic made a bet with Grade 12 schoolmate and multi-sport athlete Ross Enns that he could put the shot farther in a head-to-head contest. Cejvanovic won the bet and later that spring came out of nowhere to capture the shot put gold medal at the B.C. high school track and field championships.
“My big thing was I was so competitive I had to prove that I could pick up a ball or do this sport and be good at it,” he said.
With the help of throws coach Don Steen, Cejvanovic worked on his technique and went from a modest provincial qualifier to a champion with a winning heave of 15.51 metres on his second throw at the championships.
Cejvanovic had long been told he was a raw talent, but it was his search for perfection that made all the difference.
He started with soccer before trying every other sport – basketball, wrestling, football – it all helped to get him ready for his biggest challenge yet on the rugby pitch.
Just out of school, he won a national championship with B.C.’s under-18 rugby team.
As a 20-year-old, he went to play rugby in Australia for a season.
But back at the Burnaby Lake Rugby Club, he still played backup to the ageless World Cup veteran Colin McKenzie.
“It was frustrating. I wanted to play (B.C.) Bears, Canada, but I had to crack the Burnaby Lake lineup,” he said.
In the 2014/15 season, he struggled with injuries, and following an ill-advised comeback against the UBC Ravens, was knocked out just minutes after being subbed on to the field.
“After that, I realized I had to take a step back, something was not going right,” he said.
Cejvanovic stopped playing rugby altogether for three months and concentrated on fitness.
He took on a physical trainer at Fortius in Burnaby who reshaped how Cejvanovic approached training.
“Instead of being this strong kid, I became a more balanced player,” Cejvanovic said.
He returned to the pitch and helped lead Burnaby Lake to a 9-1 season, and to within a point of beating champion James Bay in the provincial final.
His play caught the eye of Canada’s head coach Kieran Crowley and an invitation to a selection camp became available.
At the camp, Cejvanovic enquired about a later national 7s camp, but was told by coaches it was closed.
Undeterred, Cejvanovic scored a game-turning try for the B.C. Selects that staged an unexpected win over Canada Probables at the camp.
Crowley approached the husky Burnaby back row forward again and said, “You know that 7s camp I told you was closed, it’s open for you now,” Cejvanovic said.
Seven representative 7s appearances later, Cejvanovic is now setting his sights on the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Canada still needs to qualify for the Games, but the burly forward is ready for the challenge.
With 10 World Rugby 7s tournaments on the circuit next season, including a first-time stop in Vancouver, Cejvanovic is pumped.
“It will be huge for me,” he said. “Canada needs to be in the Olympics.
“A year ago, I didn’t think I would be sitting in the gold-medal game and helping my team win, but I did.”
