Surprisingly, it’s the U.S. who leads the medal tally, having won back-to-back gold in the 1920 and 1924 Games, with France (1900) and Australia (1908) the other champions during rugby’s Olympic stint. It has cost her a couple of teeth along the way, too.
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The public is encouraged to join the rugby event, and all kids are encouraged to get into the Olympic spirit by wearing colors of different countries represented in the summer games.
You only have to hear Ellia Green speak about the most important person in her life to know what has driven the Australian speedster to become one of the world’s best rugby sevens players.
“When I went home a couple of weeks ago to my parents’ house they had the GB flags and the Welsh flags all around the house”.
“It was my brother who pointed out that my build was the very thing that would help me achieve my dreams of playing pro rugby for England. I mean, I’m just really lucky, just really lucky”.
That wasn’t exactly the unanimous family line.
Kuwai worked hard on the discus at Hokkaido Obihiro Agricultural High School, finishing fifth at a national high school meet in her second year.
“It’s literally the culmination of my career”, she said. “You can’t come up against any team and be complacent”, said Wallaby Chloe Dalton. “This is the last five years, the whole combination of everything”. “She came to me and was just like, ‘I’m not going to watch you do this every day”. “That’s one thing (Yolanta) was anxious about”.
Discussing the challenge the Olympic tournament poses in terms of training and planning, South Africa’s assistant coach Alan Temple-Jones said: “It is slightly different. If it wasn’t for her, I probably wouldn’t have gone on with it”.
Going for gold: Ellia Green. But also, it’s the fastest growing sport as far as women’s sport in the world.
“I wasn’t planning on going at all. They only picked two”.
However, there are also downsides – Fiji was hit by a deadly cyclone which killed 42 people in February, while the country’s rugby union has been best by financial problems.
Williams, who missed the three-test series against Wales in June while playing in the Sevens World Series, is one of four midfield backs in the squad named on Monday. American Madison Hughes led the world series with 331 points in the 2015-16 season.
The mention of the USA and Kenya might give cause for a double take until you take into account the Americans beat New Zealand on four occasions during the 2015/16 world series, while the African nation won the Singapore leg.
One of Australia’s stars is 23-year-old flyer Ellia Green, a former track runner who dreamt of competing in the Olympics in athletics. Scores are called tries, and look similar to touchdowns in football.
Although the first match will be contested by Europeans, it is the southern hemisphere nations who are expected to be vying for the medals come the end of both the women’s tournament and the August 9-11 men’s competition that follows. I remember her specifically saying, ‘It kills me to see you like this. “I just like the power”.
The linchpin of Australia’s women’s rugby sevens team will have mum’s name, Yolanta, written on her wrist during each contest at the Rio Games.
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“I want to be a tough girl who can do anything”, she said.
