Olympic Games Paris 2024: New Zealand Secures Back-to-Back Gold on Dramatic Finals Day
Paris Olympics 2024 Showdown: The women’s rugby sevens team from New Zealand wins its first medal, and Portia Woodman-Wickliffe and Tyla King take home their second gold medal from the Olympics.
New Zealand defeated a determined Canada in a thrilling gold medal match, forcing rugby greats Tyla King and Portia Woodman-Wickliffe into retirement while wearing their gold medals around their necks. With this triumph, New Zealand won its first medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Rugby superstars Portia Woodman-Wickliffe and Tyla King were forced to retire with gold medals around their necks as New Zealand defeated gutsy and determined Canada in an exciting arm wrestle for the gold medal contest.
Earlier, on a spectacular afternoon at Stade de France, both Canada and the USA pulled off Olympic upsets, defeating Australia, one of the hot favorites to win gold, in back-to-back matchups.
Before Emilie Bydwell became the first female head coach to win a medal, the USA made history by shocking Rio 2016 gold medallists Australia in the bronze medal match. Canada had been the first team to defy the book, having defeated the reigning Rugby World Cup Sevens champions and SVNS Grand final winners.
GOLD MEDAL MATCH: NEW ZEALAND 19-12 CANADA
A passionate full house at Stade de France witnessed New Zealand capture gold in an exciting women’s tournament conclusion. With co-captain Risi Pouri-Lane cutting inside and sprinting 50 meters to score under the posts, the reigning champs had the quickest start.
A significant portion of the initial play took place in deep Canadian territory, as fierce defense from New Zealand had them pinned on their line until Portia Woodman-Wickliffe received a yellow card for a high tackle.
Canada was able to escape their half thanks to the player advantage, and Chloe Daniels made the most of it by scoring a breakaway to tie the game. And with Woodman-Wickliffe having just returned to action, brave Canada led at halftime thanks to Alysha Corrigan’s grab of a misdirected New Zealand pass.
It ended quickly. After a fast tap from Jorja Miller, Michaela Blyde found a way past three defenders to the line, giving New Zealand a two-point lead.
Following a fiercely competitive match, Sarah Hirini, who had only joined the defending champions 28 weeks earlier due to a serious knee injury sustained at the first SVNS series tournament in Dubai, broke free and fed Stacey Waaka to increase the lead to seven.
BRONZE MEDAL MATCH: USA 14-12 AUSTRALIA
In the last seconds of an exciting game, USA’s Alex Sedrick won bronze by sprinting from beneath her own posts while the clock was running out.
Australia were ready to get over the heartache of their semi-final loss to Canada when Maddison Levi earlier added two more tries—one in each half—to her Paris 2024 total, matching Portia Woodman-Wickliffe’s overall Olympic record.
With a strong close-range run-in by Alev Kelter, USA had remained competitive, and Kayla Canett had the opportunity to take the lead but for a last-ditch tackle by Faith Nathan.
In the second half, an increasingly frustrated Australia was unable to penetrate the resolute USA defense until Teagan Levi took matters into her own hands. With 13 minutes remaining, she raced deep into the USA 22 and then found her older sister to score. Up until Sedrick’s 90-meter intervention, it appeared to be enough for bronze.
MEDAL SEMI-FINALS: NEW ZEALAND 24-12 USA
After falling down early in the game due to a slow start, New Zealand’s impressive second-half play secured their spot in the final. Their winning streak over the USA now stands at 11 games, dating back to October 2019.
The USA got off to a great start thanks to Kelter’s strong run, step, and fend, and their disciplined and focused defense held New Zealand at bay during the opening exchanges.
However, five minutes in, Stacey Waaka sprinted in to put the reigning champs ahead, and he added another early in the second half. Before Kristi Kirshe scored a late consolation for the United States, Michaela Blyde demonstrated her speed, balance, and power twice to score her eighth and ninth tries of the competition.
CANADA 21-12 AUSTRALIA
In front of yet another raucous and enthralled audience, Canada upended the semi-final script and produced the tournament’s biggest upset to defeat Australia, the hot favourites, twice in as many days in Paris.
Before the semi-finals, Australia had dominated the competition thus far and had begun well against a team they had defeated six times in their previous seven matches.
In the space of four minutes, Sariah Paki’s cross and Levi’s 12-try of Paris 2024 gave the 2016 winners a 12-0 lead. However, just before the half, Charity Williams’ solo 75-meter tap-and-go effort gave the Canadians renewed optimism.
In the second half, Australia gave away far too many penalties, and it was all red. A minute before the end, Piper Logan held off Teagan Levi to score the game-winning try, after Asia Hogan-Rochester had completed a disorganized move earlier.
PLAY-OFFS
South Africa, Japan, France, and Great Britain all had successful ends to their separate Paris 2024 campaigns.
In her farewell match, veteran Chloe Pelle scored for the host country, which defeated China 21-7 to finish in fifth place. In the seventh-place play-off, Great Britain defeated Olympic newcomers Ireland 28-12.
South Africa defeated Fiji 21–15 to win their first-ever Olympic match and secure 11th place, while Japan made it three wins in a row by defeating Brazil 38–7 to take ninth place.
