Unlike golf the rugby world appears to have relished its participation in the Olympics and the spin-off benefits for the women’s game could be huge.
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Rugby Sevens makes it’s long-awaited return to the Olympic Games on Saturday when the women get their competition underway. She had met Carol Fabrizio while playing rugby in Glendale, Ariz. “They’re really wonderful girls on and off the field so it was a privilege to be on the field with them and my teammates”.
“This tournament is a massive moment for women’s rugby, being at the Olympic Games”.
“It’s pretty insane”, said Kathryn Johnson, a forward for Team USA. Johnson said. “And you’re there with your buddies. So it can’t get any better than that, right?” There were no worries in their second game as they dispatched Fiji by a 36-0 margin. The South Pacific nation was up 12-0 when Alev Kelter scored a try 2:37 into the second half. Kevin Durant scored a game-high 25 points and dished out six assists for the Americans, with DeMarcus Cousins adding 17 points and five rebounds and Kyrie Irving 12 points and five assists.
Jen Kish once said her spirit animal was a lion. “Actually I hadn’t thought about that”.
Former All Blacks great Lomu, who died last November, was a key figure when rugby lobbied the International Olympic Committee for a place for sevens at the Games seven years ago.
Gosper said two thirds of tickets for the men’s and women’s tournaments are sold and full-stadiums are expected “across the programme”.
Which, actually, is plenty of time, according to US team member Jillion Potter. “We are adding dynamism to 15s in areas that we do not have as strong presence”, said Mark Egan, the body’s head of competitions and performance.
In contrast, rugby is the national sport in Fiji, where 80,000 of the total population of 880,000 – nearly 1 in 10 – play the game. However, they are only guaranteed appearances in Rio and in Tokyo in 2020.
Women’s play will take place August 6-8, and men’s August 9-11. “It’s kind of unreal how much this could help grow the game”. “Having a full-contact game in the Olympics is pretty unbelievable”.
While rugby is the national sport in Fiji, it still is trying to gain more of a cleat-hold throughout the world.
“They rule”, she says. “We have football and basketball”.
With the late Jonah Lomu as a figurehead, the governing body secured Olympic status for Rio in 2009 and though maintaining a presence beyond the 2020 Tokyo Olympics requires attracting good crowds here, stimulating interest in social media and winning interest from broadcasters, there are already promising signs for the competition which starts on Saturday.
Scarratt scored two second-half tries that sealed a 22-0 win and ensured Britain topped Pool C ahead of a quarter-final appearance – probably against Fiji or the United States of America – later on Sunday. Kelly Russell had two conversions.
It’s promoted as a party, the loud music and dancing in the crowd as synonymous with rugby sevens as the free-running attacking movements and copious tries.
When the 2016 Rio Olympic Games start on August 6 at Deodoro Stadium in Deodoro Olympic Park, all eyes will be on the Kenya Sevens men’s rugby team. But when the torch is lit in Rio de Janeiro, the US men’s team, called the Eagles, will take the field at Deodoro Stadium to defend a ninety-two-year-old championship.
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“It was great. I don’t think they were expecting that whatsoever”, Savannah Dubien said. While speed is the biggest thing, “you also need optimal VO2 capacity, the ability to suck large amounts of oxygen into the lungs”. Every game – and it’s two a day – they’re going to be sprinting a mile in that 14 minutes, and that’s a ton of work. “But while I was at the World Cup it just got bigger and bigger. It’s just got everything”.
