Gonzaga’s Yvonne Ejim drawing on valuable Olympic experience as she returns for fifth college season

LAS VEGAS – Lisa Fortier mostly took things easy this summer while undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment for Stage 2/3 breast cancer.

The Gonzaga women’s coach delegated tasks to assistant coaches, spent more time focusing on her well-being during pockets of the offseason where she’d normally be drowning in work and didn’t travel unless she deemed it necessary.

One such scenario arose in late July.

On July 2, Fortier’s star forward, Yvonne Ejim, the reigning West Coast Conference Player of the Year, was selected to represent Canada in the Olympics. Traveling to watch her senior standout on the world stage was an opportunity Fortier felt – no, knew – she couldn’t pass up. A non-negotiable, even with the intensity and complexity of the medical issues she was going through.

Six days after a chemotherapy treatment, Fortier and husband Craig, an assistant coach on Gonzaga’s staff, boarded an international flight to France and spent the next few weeks zipping between Paris and Lille to watch Ejim and Canada in the 5x5 competition and former Zags standout Sunny Greinacher play for Germany’s gold medal-winning 3x3 team.

“I got to see her live for a couple games and it was emotional,” Fortier said of Ejim. “The very first game we sat right behind the bench in the first row and just seeing her in that uniform, knowing what it meant for her, was meaningful. She’d been talking about that since she was little, when we were recruiting her as a freshman in high school, and that was always one of the things she listed, along with many other things.

“I have no doubt in my mind, whatever she lists as a goal she’s going to achieve. She’s that kind of person. I was just really proud of her.”

Ejim, who joined Fortier along with GU teammates Maud Huijbens and Esther Little for WCC Media Day at Resorts World in Las Vegas on Wednesday, savored the experience for a number of reasons.

For one, she shared it with older brother Melvin, a 33-year-old forward who played for Canada’s men’s team, alongside former GU standouts Kelly Olynyk and Ryan Nembhard. Melvin Ejim and the Canadian men were making their first Olympic appearance since 2000.

“Sharing that experience with my brother was like no other,” Yvonne said. “I’d do it again if I had the opportunity to and that’s what I’m working toward.”

As one of the younger players on Canada’s roster, Ejim couldn’t crack the rotation and appeared in just one game, logging 3 minutes and hauling down two rebounds in an opening-round game against Nigeria.

Ejim would be 26 years old, and likely three years into a professional basketball career, by the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and hopes to help Canada in a much larger capacity.

“I know she wants to do it bigger and better next time, but seeing her achieve something she’s worked so hard for and deserves to be there,” Fortier said. “She left our team in the season, which is a decision we made together. We thought it would be OK, because we wanted her to be a part of that. It was remarkable. It’s a special thing, so it just felt like a proud parent moment to watch her.”

Ejim was taken back by the sheer size of the Olympic village and took advantage of opportunities to watch other sports, such as track and field, while also attending her brother’s games. The 5x5 basketball competition was held in Lille, France, and the Canadian teams mostly resided there with Ejim estimating it took 2½ hours to drive between cities, “with a police escort.”

Fortier traveled between Paris and Lille more frequently and spent some time with her Gonzaga colleague, men’s coach Mark Few, while he was assisting Steve Kerr and the U.S. Olympic team. Few scored Fortier tickets to the 3x3 games, enabling her to watch Greinacher, and the Fortiers spent one night dining with the Fews during their stay.

Ejim, who said the Olympic experience was extremely valuable from a basketball perspective despite sparse playing opportunities, is again expected to shoulder a heavy load for Gonzaga in her fifth and final season of eligibility.

There’s little concern about Ejim’s ability to match the huge scoring and rebounding numbers she posted last season, only that she might try to overextend herself doing what she feels is necessary to help GU reach team goals.

“We’ve had a lot of players, whether they’ve actually had to carry a lot or just felt they’ve had to carry a lot, we’ve had a good experience with this,” Fortier said. “I remember a conversation with Haiden Palmer back when I was an assistant coach and telling her the exact same thing. Look to your right and look to your left, you have other people who can do stuff.

“And I think our message to her is her presence is going to be more impactful than any number of points or rebounds she can get, although those are nice as well. So just relying on her teammates as well, because we’ve never been a program that goes 1-on-1.”