- Australian rugby sevens team stunned in Paris
- The women’s team failed to win a medal after losing to Canada and the United States.
- They were expected to fight for gold at the Olympics.
There were plenty of tears in the Paris sunshine for Australia’s rugby sevens players after they were stunned by Canada and the USA at the Olympics.
The Australians looked impossible to stop in France after crushing their opponents ahead of Tuesday’s semi-final double-header before the grand final.
However, the women’s team simply fell apart at the Stade de France, first losing to underdogs Canada in the semi-final.
Star player Maddison Levi was in tears as the gold slipped from her grasp, and the team vowed to give their all in the bronze medal match against the United States later in the day.
But they were once again stunned in Paris when the Americans scored a last-gasp try to win the match by two points, triggering similarly emotional scenes for the Australians, who broke down in tears at the end of the game.
The Australians, gold medallists in Rio, had won the world series final in Spain two months ago and were expected to face defending champions New Zealand for a second gold.
“I guess we obviously worked really hard to get there and be so close,” Levi told Eurosport after Canada’s defeat.
“We didn’t give our best, we played with our hearts and unfortunately at the end of the day we couldn’t get the result we wanted.”
Congratulated on scoring another try, Levi said candidly: “It’s amazing, but in the end it’s heartbreaking to walk away without that gold medal. When you don’t get the team result, it doesn’t really matter.”
Australia’s women’s rugby sevens team missed out on a medal chance at the Olympics
The women’s team was expected to challenge for gold in Paris.
However, they lost to Canada in the semifinals and to the United States in the bronze medal match.
Her teammate Charlotte Caslick said: ‘There’s that extra pressure and expectation that we had.
Canada is a really good team, but I think we brought this on ourselves. Hopefully we can finish the tournament with a good result.