It's still difficult to put into words for reigning world decathlon champion Pierce LePage.
The 28-year-old from Whitby, Ont., had to withdraw from the Paris Olympics due to a herniated disc in his back. LePage suffered the injury in the spring but pushed to still compete. However, on July 17, he announced on social media that he would not be in Paris and needed surgery.
"I feel like there's regret obviously — like, yes, I want to be there and things like that," LePage said. "But I feel like there's a lot of people and a lot of fans, friends, support, family, all the people that feeling I kind of let down, let myself down, let my coach down so I felt pretty guilty about that for a long time and still, you know going through the motions.
"Obviously it's tough. I'm world champion. I had a lot of hopes and a lot of goals going into the Games," he added. "It's hard to put into words what I felt, but yeah, it sucked. But I was happy to push through as far as I could with the injury."
LePage tweaked his back in the "end of March, early April," doing an exercise in the gym. About two weeks later, while training for the long jump, he landed awkwardly, causing the herniated disc in his back.
LePage competed in several individual events in 2024, mostly indoors, but not a decathlon. He was also granted a medical exemption to not compete at Canadian national trials in June.
He said he knew it was "over" after a warm-up for his final competition in July before leaving for Paris. His pole broke prepping for the pole vault and hit the mat, but for the next couple of days had "a lot of nerve symptoms and a lot of pain" that stopped him from even jogging.
"Athletes go through injuries. It's not anything new and I've always been someone who's always been able to compete through injury, regardless of how severe it is," LePage said. "So I thought that when it happened that that must be another case of small setback. I'll be able to do it if I have some pain, like that's fine, I'll do whatever.
"But just the nature of the injury is that if it's pushing on your nerves, you can't get the results you want out of it."
LePage, who will be one of 11 RBC Olympians who will be part of this year's RBC Training Ground National Final on Saturday in Halifax, had surgery in August and says his progression in rehab has been good, although he doesn't have a recovery timeline. However, he plans to be back well before the 2025 world championships in Tokyo next September.
LePage was coming off a massive 2023 season, claiming the first international title of his career in Gotzis, Austria, then winning his first world title in Budapest, Hungary, some months later. His mark of 8,909 points in Budapest was a personal best, world lead and sixth-best all-time score.
He also became the first Canadian to win a world title in the event. LePage earned his first worlds medal in 2022, with silver, behind world-record holder Kevin Mayer of France.
He finished 2023 as the top-ranked decathlete in the world, still holding that position until the Paris Olympics.
The 2023 season showed how tough LePage would be to beat, especially when healthy. He finished fifth at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 dealing with a torn patella in his right knee. At the 2022 worlds, he competed through a torn patella in his left knee.
Many expected Canada to decathlon win gold and silver in Paris. Damian Warner of London, Ont., was the reigning Olympic champion heading into Paris and earned silver behind LePage at the 2023 worlds.
However, Warner withdrew with just a couple of events left in the decathlon in Paris after failing to clear the opening height of 4.60 metres in the pole vault on all three of his attempts. Warner fell from second to 18th, with no chance of climbing back into the mix.
LePage pointed to reasons for both men to be driven for redemption in Tokyo next year.
"I'm the world champion. I want to defend my title next year," he said. "I'm sure Damian feels similar thoughts on not wanting to stop right there.
"No one likes to not finish decathlon. That is definitely drive to doing it again and kind of redeem ourselves, I suppose."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2024.
Abdulhamid Ibrahim, The Canadian Press
