Canada's players celebrate with their silver medals on the podium during the victory ceremony following the women's gold medal rugby sevens match between New Zealand and Canada during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis on July 30, 2024.CARL DE SOUZA/Getty Images
At the end of a Cinderella run in Paris, Canada’s women’s rugby sevens team is bringing home a silver medal, their best result at a Summer Olympics.
Canada had pulled off two upsets in the last 24 hours to book its ticket to the gold-medal final, then lost to New Zealand 19-12, a powerhouse repeating as Olympic champs.
It concludes an epic run for the Canadian team in Paris.
First, the fifth-ranked Canadians earned a shocking 19-14 win over host nation France on Monday in the quarterfinals, before a crowd of 60,000 inside Stade de France, the country’s biggest. France had been the silver medalist at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Olympic spectators in Paris seek respite from heat as temperatures soar to 35 degrees
On Tuesday, the Canadians came from behind and beat No. 2-ranked Australia 21-12 in the semi-final, setting up a gold-medal showdown with top-ranked New Zealand, scheduled for just a few hours later.
“This whole day has just been like a dream,” said Caroline Crossley, 26, of Victoria. “I think we were really aiming for top four. We had finished top four in our last tournament in Madrid, so I think that was our goal. I don’t know if all of us really believed that we would medal.”
This tops the Canada’s previous best – bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics. The Canadians didn’t get past the group stage in Tokyo. Only three Canadians were returning Olympians.
“Half this team is under the age of 25, and we just got a silver medal,” said Charity Williams of Toronto, 27, the only member of the team who was on the 2016 Rio Olympic squad. “It’s a beautiful thing.”
The whole tournament is packed into just a relentless few days. On the last two days of Olympic competition, they played in extreme heat.
Tuesday was the hottest day yet at the Olympics in Paris, with temperatures in the mid-30s C. The seven-a-side variant of rugby at the Olympics is non-stop action and pure speed. It sees the women go all out for 14 minutes – two seven-minute halves – mauling, tackling, kicking, passing, sprinting and diving across the try line. A try is worth five points. The big runs get enormous cheers.
In a sea of international colours checkering across the enormous Stade de France, pockets of bouncing red-shirted Canucks waved their red and white Canadian flags.
Canada had fallen behind 12-0 early to Australia in the semis, before charging back. Ms. Williams pounded on a loose ball in first-half continuation time, and sprang free, then sprinted nearly the whole length of the field and powered in for her fifth try of the tournament, and perhaps her most important one ever.
Ms. Williams wore a boot on her left foot between Tuesday’s two matches, after suffering what she called “a stinger.” But it did not keep her out of the gold medal match.
New Zealand earned its spot in the final by beating the United States in the semis, 24-12.
A powerhouse in the sport, the Kiwis scored the first try against Canada in the final. Then they pinned the Canadians deep and kept up the pressure. But Canada replied with a flurry of tries as the first half was closing – by Chloe Daniels and Alysha Corrigan – and led 12-7 at the half. But New Zealand struck twice more in the second half, to defend its Olympic title.
“This time last year, we were ranked ninth on the series, and now we’re second and I think it’s just a testament to all the hard work,” said Ms. Crossley.
Right after the match, the Canadians FaceTimed to celebrate with their missing teammate Krissy Scurfield, who sustained an injury on Sunday during a match against New Zealand, which ended her Olympics.
After receiving their gold medals, the Kiwis gathered and performed their traditional celebratory dance, called a haka, to huge applause from the crowd.
The U.S. won the bronze medal contest in electric fashion, scoring a last-minute try to best the Australians and get on the podium.
The Olympic tournament had been a stellar display of this athletic version of women’s rugby. The atmosphere rivaled any giant stadium event in sport, from a world cup to a game in the National Football League. The huge and roaring crowds in rugby-loving Paris did well to make up for the pandemic-emptied venues of Tokyo.
“I’ve never played in a stadium this big,” said Ms. Williams. “And I’ve been playing this game for over 10 years at this level.”
It has the Canadian team looking forward to the next Games
“We have a very young team, so hopefully 2028 we’ll come with some more experience going to the Games,” said Chloe Daniels, 21, of Sutton, Ont. “I hope we’ve inspired some young girls in Canada to join rugby and grow the game.”
Olympic silver medals in hand, a young Canadian women's rugby sevens team looks to Los Angeles in 2028. Montreal's Jocelyn Barrieau will succeed Jack Hanratty as head coach of the team starting in September.
The Canadian Press
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