It was fast, it was furious and it was thrilling. Over the course of a few hours on Tuesday, the Canadian women’s rugby sevens team became an underdog story of the 2024 Olympics, storming to an historic upset win before claiming the first silver medal in program history.
Those vaguely familiar with World Cup rugby may not be well-acquainted with sevens. The relatively young sport has only been featured in three editions of the Summer Games, where the Canadian women had previously posted both strong (bronze, 2016 Rio) and weak (ninth place, 2020 Tokyo) results.
“The journey was a lot of hard work,” Canadian Alysha Corrigan told reporters after the medal ceremony. “We knew we had to have a lot of tough conversations, and people bought into what we wanted to do.”
Canada upset Australia 21-12 in the semifinal on Tuesday. The Canadians led a powerhouse New Zealand team at halftime in the gold medal match, but ultimately fell 19-12 at Stade de France.
Are we a rugby country now? Here is what you need to know.
Who are the stars on this Canadian team?
Canada was led by a handful of key players as it chased the podium.
Among them was 25-year-old Olivia Apps, who played a key role in Canada’s win over Australia by kicking three conversions worth a total six points, helping the team come back from an early 12-point deficit — a key performance in her second Olympics.
Piper Logan, a 23-year-old out of Alberta, made her mark in her first Olympics by scoring two tries in the quarter-finals against France and the final try that sealed Canada’s win over Australia, bringing the score to 19-12 with less than two minutes to go.
And Canada’s historic run may not have happened if not for Charity Williams’ game-changing try which broke the dam against Australia, starting its unanswered 21-point run after going down 12-0 early in the match.
Who is Michaela Blyde?
Michaela Blyde is one of the most prolific players in rugby sevens. The 28-year-old has won back-to-back gold medals and was the first women’s player to win consecutive World Rugby Sevens player of the year titles. While playing for the most dominant team in the world, Blyde has set several individual records and is one of only two women to have scored 200 tries in the HSBC international sevens competition.
Blyde was one of the major keys for the New Zealand squad against Canada, scoring a try in the second half and the Kiwis shut down the Canadian offence en route to the gold medal.
Why is sevens so frantic and fun?
For an audience more familiar with hockey, rugby sevens might be likened to three-on-three hockey. Whereas standard rugby features 15 players a side, sevens is a seven-on-seven sport — but played on the same pitch as a normal rugby match, giving players more space to move.
The shotgun matches are meanwhile split into two seven-minute halves, making the games a fraction of 80-minute traditional rugby matches.
How has Canada performed at past Games?
Canada’s win over Australia on Tuesday ensured the country’s best-ever finish at an Olympics — best of the three.
Its Olympic debut at the 2016 Rio Games was a major success, winning bronze after crushing Great Britain 33-10. The team followed up with a more disappointing performance in Tokyo by finishing ninth, going 3-2 over five games.
Does this make Canada a rugby country?
That’s up for debate — but having medaled in two of the only three rugby sevens tournaments ever held at the Olympics, Canadian women’s rugby has solidified itself near the top of the heap. Only rugby powerhouse New Zealand, champions at the two most recent Olympics, has more combined medals than Canada. (Australia, which lost to the United States in the bronze-medal match on Tuesday, won gold at the Rio Olympics but has failed to medal at the last two Games.)
The Canadian women also took silver at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in 2013 and finished seventh and sixth at the 2018 and 2022 world cups, respectively.
Canada’s men’s side has been less successful, failing to qualify for this year’s Olympics and finishing eighth at the Tokyo Olympics.
The women’s success tracks on other world stages, too. The team has finished fourth on four occasions at the Women’s Rugby World Cup, which features more than twice the number of players on the field. In 2014 the team came second to England — its best-ever performance.
The Canadian men, meanwhile, have made one quarterfinal appearance at the World Cup, in 1991.