Towering volleyballer returns from Rio a little taller

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This article was published 22/08/2016 (2802 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Justin Duff was surprised by the welcome he received Tuesday when he returned to Winnipeg from his first Olympics.

“I didn’t really tell anyone when I was coming except my youngest brother and my cousin, so it was nice to see everyone here and acting happy to see me,” Duff said moments after his flight landed at Richardson International Airport.

At 6-7, Duff is hard to miss and sticks out in nearly every crowd that isn’t populated with his Canadian men’s volleyball teammates. Over the past two weeks in Rio de Janeiro, the squad redefined Canada’s place on the international scene.

After beating the American and Italian powerhouses in group play, Canada made it to the quarter-finals before being ousted by the Russians.

Disappointing? Sure. Exceeding expectations in Canada’s first men’s Olympic volleyball appearance since Barcelona in 1992? Definitely.

“When I joined the team seven years ago or so, we were an OK team internationally and the big teams didn’t care if they played us, like, ‘All right, chalk up a 3-0 win against Canada,’” Duff said.

“Since then, what we’ve done and how we’ve handled things, we’re a feared team where teams prepare for us. I think to go from that to that in a seven- or eight-year period is a huge accomplishment.”

The Olympic stage is a far cry from where Duff figured he’d be earlier in life. The 28-year-old comes from humble beginnings as one of three children who were raised by a single mom in the Maples. There wasn’t much money to go around, so leaving Winnipeg was only a dream. Duff figured he’d be a school teacher by now if volleyball hadn’t come calling.

“Many times he had to accomplish things that were very difficult,” Janet Duff said as she watched her son talk to the media Tuesday. “He kept persevering… I knew he was a winner from the beginning. He will continue to go up.”

At 16, Duff’s potential was identified by a gym teacher at Maples Collegiate who was also a University of Winnipeg Wesmen volleyball player.

After speaking to Wesmen head coach Larry McKay, Duff joined the program after high school, and he was on the national team at the age of 20.

His pro career took off from there.

This fall, Duff will play for Greek side Olympiacos SC in Europe. He’s also had stops in Austria, Turkey, Russia, Indonesia, Poland and Portugal, where he played last season with professional club SL Benfica in Lisbon.

“I have grown to like volleyball. I really like it now, but it wasn’t always like that for me. I have a lot of other interests,” Duff told the Free Press before the 2016 Olympics. “I was very fortunate, the sport kind of picked me. The last few years, I’ve really chosen to be passionate about the game.”

With a recent infusion of funds from the federal government, Canada’s national program has flourished.

Qualifying for the Olympics had been Canada’s main goal for Rio, so the team had to set a new goal this summer after claiming a spot in Brazil.

“Our pool had four legitimate gold-medal hopefuls, so for us, it was kind of a daunting task,” he said. “We had proved ourselves this summer against lesser competition but now we had to play the biggest people in the world, really. To start off with that huge win against the U.S. and then that win against Italy and we didn’t have our greatest game against Russia (in the quarter-finals), but just to get there was awesome. It was a good accomplishment.”

Canada will move into Group 1 of the FIVB Volleyball World League next year, the crème de la crème, where it will face powerhouses such as Italy, the U.S. and Brazil.

“This Olympics, as soon as we beat the U.S. and got past the initial pool rounds, everyone was like, ‘You guys are going to medal. You’re going to win gold,’” Duff said. “It doesn’t happen that easy, it’s not a process like that unless you get really lucky. Our team is focused on (the Olympic Games in Tokyo in) 2020 and the world championships in two years.”

For now, Duff will take a bit of time off to reflect on his Olympic memories, one of which includes playing table tennis with 16-year-old Canadian swim prodigy Penny Oleksiak on the first day in Rio. He admits he had no clue who she was during their casual match.

“I was like, ‘Who is this weird kid who’s not that good at Ping-Pong?’” he said. “As the week unfolded, she is a multiple medallist. It’s funny, you meet these people and you have no idea who they are.”

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @scottbilleck