U.S. Women Could Win First Rugby Medal In 100 Years
Jul 30, 2024, 9:29 AM
PARIS – The women of Team USA are guaranteed to play for a medal Tuesday after defeating Great Britain Monday night in the quarterfinals of Rugby Sevens.
The team fell to New Zealand and will play for the Bronze medal later today.
Great Britain ended Team USA’s hopes of a medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics where the team finished in 6th place.
Making History
It’s the first time U.S. women’s rugby has advanced as far as the semifinals after the sport was added to the Olympic program in 2016.
Any medal will be the first won by an American rugby team in the Olympics since the U.S. men’s team won gold at the 1924 Paris Games, 100 years ago.
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Getting NFL Love
The women of the at-times brutal sport are catching the attention of NFL players back home. The Baltimore Ravens posted video of All-Pro running back Derrick Henry watching highlights and retired Super Bowl champ and former Philadelphia Eagle Jason Kelce was in Paris this week and appeared in a TikTok video of rugby player Ilona Maher and had an arm wrestling contest with Nicole Heavirland.
We had to get @KingHenry_2's thoughts on @ilona_maher dishing out some 🔥 stiff arms in the Olympics…@OnHerTurf @NBCOlympics pic.twitter.com/ten8bGZhDn
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) July 29, 2024
Next Up
Team USA will play for a Bronze medal against Australia at 11:00 a.m. MT.
It's going to be an epic finale in #Paris2024 😍
You don't want to miss these…#RugbySevens pic.twitter.com/ygYlnUbD9x
— Rugby Sevens (@SVNSSeries) July 30, 2024
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