Rugby sevens at the Summer Olympics

Rugby sevens at the Summer Olympics
Events 2 (men: 1; women: 1)
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Rugby sevens is a Summer Olympics sport. It was played for the first time at the 2016 Summer Olympics with both men's and women's contests. Rugby sevens was added to the Olympics following the decision of the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen in October 2009.

Efforts to include rugby sevens in the Olympics

Rugby sevens was one of five sports that submitted a proposal to the IOC at a meeting in Singapore for inclusion in the 2012 games.[1] The IOC stated that no sport would be added unless others were dropped.[2] However, the selection of two sports out of the five nominees as potential 2012 sports went to squash and karate, as determined by a voting procedure.[3]

Most recently, rugby sevens competed with golf for two available spaces in the 2016 Olympics. The final decision was made at the IOC Session in Copenhagen in October 2009. The IRB used a number of high-profile people and events to influence the IOC to include sevens at the 2016 games. In March 2009, two senior delegates from the IOC attended the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Dubai at the invitation of the IRB. The event attracted 78,000 fans over the three days and saw Wales crowned Men’s World Champions and Australia won the first ever Women's World Cup.

Along with the World Cup, the IRB enlisted some of rugby’s biggest names to assist in the bid. In March 2009, Jonah Lomu and Lawrence Dallaglio were announced as ambassadors for the bid and in April 2009 Waisale Serevi was unveiled as an ambassador to coincide with the Oceania National Olympic Committees' general assembly.[4] May 2009 saw the IRB announce that they would drop the Rugby World Cup Sevens in order to improve the chances of the sport being included. The benefit of this move would be to make the Olympics the premier event in international rugby sevens.

As well as rugby sevens, baseball and softball, which were dropped from the Olympic programme in 2005, karate, squash, golf and roller sports (inline speed skating) were all seeking to be included in the 2016 games and leaders of the seven sports made formal presentations to the IOC executive board in June 2009.[5] A new system was in place at this session in which a sport now needs only a simple majority rather than the two-thirds majority that was required before.[6]

On 13 August 2009 it was announced that the IOC executive board was recommending rugby sevens for inclusion in the 2016 Olympic Games[6] and on 9 October 2009 the full IOC, at its 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen, voted to include rugby sevens in the 2016 games.

Separate competitions for men and women will be held, using a similar format to the existing IRB Sevens World Series. The IRB had originally proposed including 12 teams of each sex, the same number as other team ball sports events. During the IRB's presentation at the IOC Session, two IOC members asked why only 12 teams were included. IRB Chief Executive Mike Miller responded, "We followed the guidance of the Executive Members of the IOC, but if the IOC feels we should have more teams, we will add more."[7]

History

The first gold for men's rugby sevens at the Olympics was earned by Fiji at the 2016 Summer Olympics. This represented the first ever Olympic medal for Fiji.[8]

Men's summaries

Year Host Final Bronze medal match
Gold medal Score Silver medal Bronze medal Score Fourth place
2016 Brazil
Rio
Fiji		 43–7
Great Britain
South Africa		 54–14
Japan

Women's summaries

Year Host Final Bronze medal match
Gold medal Score Silver medal Bronze medal Score Fourth place
2016 Brazil
Rio
Australia		 24–17
New Zealand
Canada		 33–10
Great Britain

Medal table

Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1  Australia (AUS) 1 0 0 1
 Fiji (FIJ) 1 0 0 1
3  New Zealand (NZL) 0 1 0 1
 Great Britain (GBR) 0 1 0 1
5  Canada (CAN) 0 0 1 1
 South Africa (RSA) 0 0 1 1
Total 2 2 2 6

Participating nations

Nation 96 00 04 08 12 20 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 96 00 04 08 12 16 Years
 Australia (AUS)                            241
 Argentina (ARG)                            121
 Brazil (BRA)                            241
 Canada (CAN)                            121
 Colombia (COL)                            121
 Fiji (FIJ)                            241
 France (FRA)                            241
 Great Britain (GBR)                            241
 Japan (JPN)                            241
 Kenya (KEN)                            241
 New Zealand (NZL)                            241
 South Africa (RSA)                            121
 Spain (ESP)                            241
 United States (USA)                            241
Nations                            14
Athletes                            288
Year 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 94 98 02 06 10 14

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Emirates Supports IRB Rugby Sevens 2012 Olympic Bid". asiatraveltips.com. Retrieved 9 May 2006.
  2. ↑ "Five up for Games inclusion". BBC. 22 November 2004. Retrieved 15 May 2006.
  3. ↑ "Singapore 2005: 2012 Olympic Sport Vote". olympic.org.uk. Retrieved 15 May 2006.
  4. ↑ "Serevi joins the stars clamoring for Sevens' Olympic inclusion". ur7s.com. Retrieved 28 May 2009.
  5. ↑ "Golf among seven sports seeking inclusion in 2016 Games". ESPN. 25 April 2008. Retrieved 20 August 2008.
  6. 1 2 Wilson, Stephen (13 August 2009). "Golf, rugby backed by IOC board for 2016 Games". Associated Press. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
  7. ↑ Caravelli, Al (23 October 2009). "Al Caravelli: "I can't stop smiling"". International Rugby Board. Retrieved 7 November 2009.
  8. ↑ "Olympics Daytime". Rio 2016. 11 August 2016. CBC.
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