He heard a voice, his father's voice, and the words which changed his life: "You don't have your leg any more.” Twenty-seven years later, Jusufovic, now 43, is one of the pillars of the Bosnia and Herzegovina sitting volleyball team.
A gold medallist at Athens 2004 and London 2012, he also has two silvers (Beijing 2008 and Rio 2016) and a bronze (Tokyo 2020) in his treasure chest.
Now the Most Valuable Player of the 2022 World Championship is aiming for a sixth Paralympic medal in Paris.
It has been quite a journey which began on May 19, 1997 in his village near Lukavac in the north-east of the country, a few days before his 16th birthday.
Jusufovic was out ploughing in the fields with his mother and twin brother.
Instead of making a 30-metre detour to avoid a "suspect plot of land" that had been on the frontline during the 1992-95 Bosnian War, he decided to walk across it.
"Something happened. I didn't realise it was an explosion," Jusufovic said. "I fell to the ground and lay there motionless. I could smell black powder. A mine." Then came darkness.
Esta historia es de la edición August 29, 2024 de The Straits Times.
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Esta historia es de la edición August 29, 2024 de The Straits Times.
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