This past summer everyone was glued to their TVs watching the best athletes from almost every country compete head to head in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Many athletes break records and share moments with the crowd, but the team that had everyone invested in their storyline was the USA women’s Rugby 7 team.
The team took third to bring home the USA’s first medal in Rugby 7 and its first medal since the Men’s Rugby 15 team won in 1924. Along with the hardware, the women’s team also brought a lot of attention to the sport with social media and some influential players.
Rugby 7 Debut In Rio
In the 2016 Olympic Rio Games, the seven-on-seven rugby tournament was introduced into men’s and women’s competitions. 24 total teams came to play in Rio.
In the men’s competitions, Fiji defeated Great Britain for their first medal. In the women’s competition, Australia took down New Zealand and finished first. The USA lost in the quarter-finals, and the men didn’t leave the pool stage.
The impact that the Rio game had on Rugby 7 was incredible because the sport gained about 30 million new fans.
Social Media Impact
Social media can help a team in many ways. It has become an almost necessary part of running a sports team because it is a huge helper for drawing attention to the games and players.
Right before the Olympic games begin this summer one player from the Women’s Rugby 7 team, Ilona Maher started making comedy sketches about the Olympic villa.
In the sketches, Ilona talks about finding love at the games. She also posted videos about self-love and body positivity. The athlete seemed to gain fame overnight, and she used this newfound influence to give rugby the spotlight.
She uploaded post-game interviews after the team’s games and even made posts about celebrating their bronze medal win. These posts engaged and connected fans more to the team, and they brought the life of a player more into the spotlight.
Ilona’s teammate Sam Sullivan also used social media to promote the women’s Rugby 7s team presence at the Olympics by filming a few comedy sketches of her own, but also using her love for Lego.
Sam could be seen building the Paris Lego set in the villa and used the social media trend “Is somebody going to match my freak?”.
Just like Ilona, Sam used her internet fame to show her followers what it was like at the Olympics with pictures of the field leading up to and after the games.
2024 Olympics History
This year, Rugby 7 went on for 6 days. Some of those days were before the opening ceremony to get out of the preliminary and qualifiers.
The USA Women started strong, beating Great Britain by ten in the knockout stage to get into the semi-finals where they would play New Zealand. The USA didn’t beat New Zealand, but they still got the chance to play for bronze and they made the most of it.
The bronze match was played between the USA and Australia, and temperatures were up in the 90s before the match even started. Australia got the lead early on, but before halftime, the USA tied them at 7-7.
In the second half, Australia dominated most of the game with their offense and defense; towards the end of the game, the score was 7-12. Australia could’ve made history, but they missed their last conversion.
With only 26 seconds left, it seemed like there was no hope left for the USA. Luckily for the USA, we had Spiff Sedrick, who received the ball and sprinted the entire length of the field which is 228 feet long while dodging Australia’s defensive line.
After Sedrick scored a try, the score was tied 12-12. The U.S. needed a conversion kick which would give them a two-point lead over Australia. Usually, rugby has designated kickers, but the U.S.’s regular kicker was already substituted from the game. Sedrick had to take the kick herself, and she nailed it.
In desperation, the USA Women’s 7 rugby team overcame and made history by winning a medal. It was also significant that their head coach was the only female head coach in the women’s competition.
Women’s sports have come a long way in the last century, and they’re still improving all the time. Women’s Rugby 7s has helped show that you can play any sport you want whether you’re a man or a woman. The team delivered this heartfelt storyline that pulled everyone in and left us with a happy ending.
This is only the beginning for this team, and they will surely be back again to give another settler performance.
Piece revised for publication on Tuesday, 10/22
