Australian rugby yesterday welcomed the decision to include rugby sevens in the 2016 Olympic Games and called it an honor for the sport.
On Friday, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) rubber-stamped the inclusion of rugby union sevens in the Games, which will take place in Rio de Janeiro. It also gave the go-ahead for golf to be included.
“This is a wonderful moment for our game and a momentous decision by the IOC,” Australian Rugby Union (ARU) Managing Director John O’Neill said in a statement released yesterday.
“There is enormous status attached to being an Olympic sport,” he said. “We are extremely proud and honored to say we are finally returning to the Olympic family.”
Rugby Union has been played at the modern Olympics on four previous occasions, in 1900, 1908, 1920 and 1924.
winning gold
Australia competed just once in the rugby competitions, at the London Games in 1908, and won the gold medal after the first Wallabies to tour Britain beat English county champions Cornwall in the final, the ARU said.
“Everyone in rugby will be celebrating our Olympic readmission,” O’Neill said.
“All our players, men and women, from those at the grassroots right through to the elite levels, can now have Olympic Games selection as an ambition,” he said. “I know the younger players in our Wallabies squad will see it as a challenge to force their way into the sevens squad in 2016.”
O’Neill said the sevens program in Australia and around the world would receive a major injection of interest and a raised profile following the IOC’s decision.
■NEW ZEALAND
AFP, WELLINGTON
New Zealand hailed the inclusion of rugby sevens in the 2016 Olympic Games, saying it was a “fantastic step” forward for the sport.
New Zealand is one of the leading exponents of the abridged version of the game, having won the world series eight times in the 10-year history of the tournament.
“We are obviously delighted,” said Steve Tew, the New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive. “Sending our best athletes to participate in the Olympic Games is a fantastic step for rugby.”
PRESENTATION
The 81-8 vote followed a 20-minute presentation by an International Rugby Board panel including former All Blacks great Jonah Lomu, arguing for the sport to be readmitted to the Games after more than 80 years’ exclusion.
Tew said he believed the IOC wanted to “refresh the Games and look into the future. Basically sevens is part of the movement.”
“Given New Zealanders’ shared passion for rugby and the Olympic Games, I am sure all Kiwi rugby fans would be excited at the prospect of our sevens team representing New Zealand on the Olympic stage,” he said.
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