Before the Hong Kong Sevens final, Army Officer Sammy Sullivan stood at attention in a salute alongside his USA rugby teammates as the national anthem was played.
Like all of us, her mind wanders from time to time, so it's easy to speculate that another big thing Sullivan might have wandered into is the medal race at the Paris Olympics in July.
“Sometimes I think about it,” Sullivan told The Associated Press, “but for the most part it's really important to stay in the moment and focus on the next task.”
The next big challenge for Sullivan and his Eagles teammates is to win a medal, a goal shared by the U.S. players, including two-time World Sevens Player of the Year Perry Baker.
Despite being competitive in the annual Men's and Women's World Series, the United States has not won an Olympic medal since rugby sevens was introduced as an Olympic sport in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Three years ago in Tokyo, the U.S. team was eliminated in the quarterfinals after losing to Great Britain, the women's team was eliminated despite topping a group that included 2016 champions Australia, and the men's team was eliminated despite entering the Olympics as the No. 2-ranked team in the world.
For Ilona Maher, the social media star who broke out on TikTok during the Tokyo Olympics, making up for that is at the top of her list of goals for the Paris Games.
“We're just learning how important it is to put ourselves in the best position possible going into pool play, into the quarterfinals,” Maher said. “I think winning a medal would be great for us, for our program and for rugby as a sport in the U.S., so we're doing everything we can to make that happen.
“America loves success. We love to see people win. And then more people will come to us.”
For Sullivan, the topic of recruiting is also part of the process: Her father played rugby in the military, but Sullivan didn't take up the sport until she enrolled at West Point.
After being commissioned as an engineer officer in the Army, she was selected for the national rugby team, which led her to join the World Class Athlete program, which allows soldiers to compete in the Olympics while still on active duty.
So reaching the final in April in Hong Kong, the home of rugby sevens, was cause for celebration.
“I've always had a strong sense of honor,” Sullivan said, “so to salute and show my pride not only in being an American but also in being an American Soldier is something that moves me.”
The USA lost to the reigning Olympic champions, New Zealand, in the final. The US women's team finished in fifth place at the World Series, with highlights including a second place finish in Hong Kong and a third place finish in Los Angeles.
Australia, the 2016 Olympic champions, were crowned women's champions in the final series of the tournament in Madrid in June, defeating New Zealand in the semi-finals.
New Zealand viewed the match in Hong Kong as a dress rehearsal for the defence of their Olympic title.
For the United States, it was part of a tweak after using the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics as a major dry run for the Paris Games.
“Third place wasn't exactly the result we wanted,” Sullivan said, “but if you look at it like a graph, that was one of our peaks and we're just trying to grow from there.”
When finalizing the U.S. women's Olympic team last week, head coach Emily Bydwell said her goal in Paris was to “push the uniform forward, leave a legacy … and put on a performance that will wow the U.S. fans.”
For co-captain Lauren Doyle, that means one thing: “A gold medal is definitely the goal, and we're on the move to get there.”
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Baker has spoken many times about his experience turning to rugby after an injury cost him a chance to play in the NFL, to promote the sport in America.
Ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, the official website carried an article suggesting that it might be Baker's last Olympics, but he wasn't going to go away empty-handed.
“I want to win a medal and see what this team can do,” Baker said of his reasons for returning to his third Olympics at age 38.
The men's team was in good form before the COVID-19 pandemic but struggled to maintain momentum after returning to the Olympics in Tokyo.
“The team has changed dramatically,” Baker said. “We don't feel the pressure of no one expecting us to medal.”
The U.S. men's team fell to ninth place in the World Series and had to qualify for the 2025 Series in Madrid. They went 4-0 and had important wins over Uruguay and Samoa to qualify for the Paris Games. For Baker, this ranking doesn't reflect how close the U.S. men's team was to being a top team. He believes they are Olympic medal contenders.
“Overall, we've beaten the best teams, we've been up there and we've come close,” he said. “Anything can happen at the Olympics.”
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
