Former England Sevens head coach Ben Ryan guided the South Sea Islanders to gold – Fiji’s first Olympic medal in any sport – at Deodoro Stadium after a 43-7 victory over Great Britain in the final.
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Trailing 5-0 at half-timel after Kyle Brown’s superb try, Great Britain rallied, combining punishing defence with superb attacking enterprise to snatch the lead through the pace of Dan Norton.
“It’s been awesome. I wouldn’t have done anything differently”, said Ebner, who received special permission to play at the Olympics during the National Football League offseason. “If we all pull together and work hard, we’ll have a chance”.
Fiji’s rugby sevens heroes showed tremendous humility as they stood on the podium waiting for their historic Olympic gold medals. “It’s a bit deflating but in about an hour’s time I think we’ll realise we’ve got a silver medal and we’ll be quite proud of ourselves”.
“Wonderful that Fiji got the gold medal. Probably when we wake up tomorrow, it will dawn on us what we’ve achieved here”.
Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama was in the crowd to add to the pressure, but even he could not have dared dream how well the team would perform.
“I just can’t believe it – it’s a dream come true and these boys are an absolutely fantastic bunch of rugby players, bunch of men and they’re heroes for their country now”, he said. “We are still a little tiny dot on the map but hopefully people will start looking for that tiny dot now”.
“Obviously it’s important for us that the International Olympic Committee believe this is a strong proposition for the Olympics and that’s the feeling we’re getting back from them”. “They were just stratospheric and they saved the best until last”.
“It’s been always our plan for three years; get them back to No. 1, win world titles, and then claim this first (Olympic) gold medal”, he said. “It’s not often that Japan ranks higher than Australia and New Zealand in rugby”, said Japan playmaker Lomano Lemeki.
They were the first men’s rugby medals awarded at the Olympics since the 1924 Paris Games, where the United States won gold in the 15-aside game.
Earlier in the day Japan’s remarkable run at the tournament, which included victories over New Zealand and France, came to an end with defeat to the Fijians in the semi-finals. And that’s exactly what World Rugby aimed to achieve when campaigning for the sport’s entry into the Games.
People in Fiji couldn’t avoid it – the country shut down as the national sevens team delivered Fiji’s first ever medal. “The entire country will have watched this and they all should be thrilled about the performance”.
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“The boys are front page, back page, six o’clock news”.
