Charlotte Caslick explains how Olympic heartache ‘helped’ Australia ‘grow’

Three years ago at Tokyo Stadium, the Australian women’s sevens side had their hearts broken in an Olympic quarter-final. Australia fell to an agonisingly narrow 14-12 loss to Fiji which saw them bow out of medal contention.

For a team that had genuine aspirations of taking out Olympic gold at the postponed Tokyo Games, that wasn’t how they’d envisioned their campaign going. Players were in tears after full-time as they came to terms with what had happened.

Captain Charlotte Caslick told reporters the following year that the Aussies had “sucked” in Tokyo and they didn’t “want to feel like that again.” That defeat turned into a motivator for the women in gold as they set their sights on Paris 2024.

Australia went on to win Commonwealth Games gold in Birmingham, the Rugby Sevens World Cup in Cape Town and overall titles on the SVNS Series in 2021/22 and 2023/24. They claimed the second of those SVNS crowns on a famous day in Madrid last month.

But while those victories haven't given this team plenty of confidence, it doesn't take away the memories of that quarter-final loss to Fiji. They'll be desperate to make amends over the next couple of days in Saint-Denis.

“I guess it’s part of sport, right? It’s why everyone loves it – the highs and lows,” Charlotte Caslick said on Stan Sport on the opening day of women’s sevens at the Paris Games.

“We’ve achieved a lot since then and we’ve definitely moved on and we’re really looking forward to this campaign.

“We’ve got a lot of girls back home due to injury, and even losing Kaitlan Shave earlier today, we’ve overcome a lot as a group. They’re a resilient bunch of girls that can adapt to anything and keep moving forward.

“They have the character, I think, to do really well this tournament and I think that loss in Tokyo really helped this group grow.”

Australia have shot out of the blocks with two dominant wins to start their quest for Olympic gold at Stade de France. They got the party started with a 34-5 win over South Africa and a commanding 36-5 triumph over Ellie Kildunne’s Great Britain.

Maddison Levi was a clear standout on the opening day with the 22-year-old running in seven tries across those two matches. Levi scored just a few phases into the team’s first match of the Games against the South Africans and went from there.

“We’ve had a really great day. We’re really proud, I think, of how the girls went,” Caslick reflected.

“We wanted to start the campaign strong and we’ve definitely done that and we’ll be shifting our focus into Ireland tomorrow.”

But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing.

Australia will be without SVNS Series Rookie of the Year Kaitlyn Shave who suffered a devastating injury on Sunday. Shave went down injured without anyone near her and it seems certain the speedster is out of the event.

Travelling reserve Kahli Henwood has been called into the playing group for the first time. This is Henwood’s debut tournament in the gold jersey of the Aussie sevens side and there’s no greater stage to reach that mark than at the Olympic Games.

“We haven’t gotten to see her yet but she’s obviously, I’m sure really disappointed and we’re all gutted for her. It’s heartbreaking for her to obviously end her campaign in that manner.

“We’re gonna get around her.

“Obviously, Kahli Henwood got to make her debut at an Olympic Games. There’s always something good that comes from some bad news.”

Australia will look to complete a perfect three-from-three run in pool play when they take on Ireland at 10:30 pm on Monday. These two teams played in the SVNS Perth Cup Final in January, with the Irish shocking the world to claim that title.