‘Fight those stereotypes’: The impact of Olympic bronze on USA Rugby Sevens

Before Team USA won their Olympic medal at the Paris Games earlier this year, you could already see on social media how much of a game-changing impact that history-making team was having at Stade de France.

With Ilona Maher leading the way with candid and funny TikTok and Instagram videos, America seemed to fall in love with the Women’s Sevens Eagles like never before. New fans in the USA were captivated by the team’s unwavering sense of self-belief, passion and authenticity.

USA were beaten by eventual gold-medallists New Zealand in the semi-finals of the women’s competition, but they still had one more opportunity to secure their spot on the Olympic podium. But, standing in their way was a powerhouse many had tipped to challenge for gold.

SVNS Series champions Australia had fallen to Canada in a shock semi-final defeat. Players were in tears at full-time as they began to come to terms with the shock, disappointment and hurt of that loss, but they still had another match to play.

As many expected, the Aussies were on the cusp of Olympic bronze with time almost up on the clock, but the match was far from over. Team USA spread the ball right, finding Alex ‘Spiff’ Sedrick who received possession about five metres out from her own try line.

What happened next was the stuff of legend. Sedrick broke through three tackle attempts before running 95 metres to the house, and then converting the try to give Team USA a bronze medal-winning 14-12 triumph. The players celebrated, and so did the sports-mad nation.

The Americans became sporting icons, Maher was recognised along with the likes of Sabrina Carpenter in Time100 Next list as an inspirational young person, and that Olympic medal continues to motivate others as ‘Spiff’ explained.

“It’s incredible. A lot of people don’t even know that we have a national team, a lot of people don’t even know that women play so we have to fight those stereotypes a lot,” Sedrick told RugbyPass in a recent interview.

“To do it at the Olympics, there’s no better stage for it. We would not have gotten the same reaction if we won the World Cup, or if we had won on the SVNS Series… it had to be the Olympics because Americans care so much about the Olympics.

“It’s not just that they care about the Olympics, if you do it’s like, ‘Okay, cool, you went to the Olympics’ but because we’re so dominant with medals, you have to medal to be relevant as far an American that competed.

“I don’t agree with (that), anyone who makes it to the Olympics (it’s) an amazing accomplishment… we definitely had to do it there because we have such a huge fan base of Team USA in general.

“To have the reaction of coming home and seeing the numbers spike in girls club and youth programs and college teams that want to be formed, and even the older women’s clubs, people want to get back into the sport.

“It’s shocking how much one performance in Paris had on the whole momentum of our sport. We really hope that this can keep up and that we can carry this to LA 28.

“You look at teams like Australia, France, New Zealand, you guys have such depth and you have a huge pool of athletes that you can pick from because your guys’ countries focus so much on rugby. From what I understand, there’s Australian Football as well. That, I would argue, is really similar to rugby whereas sports for women in America end up being like volleyball, gymnastics, track, dance. It’s not quite the same skillsets.

“Nobody grows up playing rugby in the States and hopefully that’s changing with our performance in Paris.”

It’s incredible how winning an Olympic medal has transformed the sevens program already, and that seismic shift will certainly be felt for years to come. These Olympians have been built up as heroes, and Americans will have a chance to watch them in action next month.

Premier Rugby Sevens (PR7s) and USA Rugby revealed earlier this week that the USA Women’s and Men’s teams will compete at the 2024 PR7s All-Star Tournament at Providence Park, Portland, on November 17.

These athletes will be celebrated as they continue to ramp up preparations for the upcoming SVNS Series season, which gets underway in Dubai at the end of next month. The playing rosters are yet to be determined, but they will be announced soon.

“We’re proud to work alongside Premier Rugby Sevens to create this unique event that showcases the extraordinary rugby talent here in America, USA Rugby CEO, Bill Goren, said in a statement.

“This is a great opportunity for fans to see our Olympians back in action and for rugby to continue building momentum in the U.S. with our partners at PR7s. The Pr7s All-Star Tournament will highlight America rugby’s competitiveness and promote our sports’ inclusiveness and excitement.”

On July 31, USA Rugby announced a landmark donation from an investor to provide $4 million to the USA Women’s rugby sevens team. Michele Kang, who is the owner of the Washington Spirit, Olympique Lyonnais Feminin and London City Lionesses, made the donation.

This Olympic bronze had the potential to be the start of something really special for USA Rugby. With the SVNS Series about to get underway, the USA Women’s side will look to use that as a springboard at times as they continue to inspire, motivate, and change the game forever.