Gilded Hopes for USA Women Ahead of Paris

06.18.2024

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The word that first passed Naya Tapper’s lips, and then Emilie Bydwell’s, was a color … a very specific color.

Gold.

During yesterday’s virtual press conference to discuss the unveiling of the USA Women’s Rugby 7s Olympic roster, Tapper, Bydwell, and co-captain Lauren Doyle all talked about the pride they have in representing the USA, and some of the things they want to achieve. But it was Tapper who said “Gold” first.

“Its good to have qualified, but we are going there to win Gold,” she said.

OK then.

“We want to be on the podium, but not just the podium. We’re going there to win Gold.”

USA Women's Olympic Rugby Team Announced

That is a very high-end goal, but that’s what you need. Being content with anything else means you might not strive for the highest attainable. Yes we know that the USA didn’t win a single tournament this past season. And in fact they haven’t won a tournament since Malaga in the 2021-22 season.

But .. in the last two seasons they have been 3rd four times and 2nd three times. So it’s not completely out of reach.

Sometimes you have different goals during a World Series season. In 2022-23 it was about qualifying automatically for Paris 2024, and they achieved that. This year sometimes it was about managing resources and ensuring that everyone was healthy and available for selection (a goal they reached).

But now?

“We need to aim even higher,” said Tapper. “We have to get the feeling for the moment, and Gold is definitely the goal.”

Bydwell backed that up. She wants the team to do something it’s never done before.

“As Naya said, the team will be elevating, so we all need to elevate our player.”

And while Doyle let Tapper talk Gold, she was shying away from the competitiveness required for Paris in July. Her job, however, seemed to be more about filtering out the hype and the noise in order to focus on the job at hand. And, ultimately, it’s just a rugby tournament.

That’s part of focusing on the goal, too.

Some Notes from the Press Conference:

Selection Stress. Bydwell said the toughest part of her job is telling a player she isn’t on the Olympic squad. It was very difficult this year and certainly some players will have thought they had a chance to be on there.

Traveling Reserves. The two traveling reserves, Nicole Heavirland and Kris Thomas, will travel, train, and live with the team throughout the Olympic process. If there is an injury up through July 8, then Bydwell can add a new player to the Olympic roster of 14. But after July 8 they can only replace a player from the Traveling Reserves.

Also, only one traveling reserve player can be used. So yes, Heavirland or Thomas has a chance to play, but not both.

Preparation. Canada will be joining the USA in Chula Vista for some scrimmages. Then the Eagles will be traveling to France where they will stay and train in the historic town of Tours, which has a history going back 2,000 years and was the site (sort of) of the great battle between the Franks and Umayyad Caliphate that halted the Caliphate’s move across Europe in the year 732.

So that’s cool. During their time in Tours the USA will likely co-train with a couple of teams (Ireland is expected) and scrimmage with them.

The Games. The Women’s Olympic tournament will kick off on Sunday, July 28 with two pool games. The third pool game and the quarterfinals will be on July 29, with the semis and placement games on July 30.

The pools and matchups have not yet been finalized because … we don’t even have all the teams yet! Monaco hosts the Olympic repechage tournaments this coming weekend. The women’s teams competing are: Argentina, China, Czechia, Hong Kong China, Kenya, Jamaica, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Poland, Samoa, and Uganda.

Gilded Hopes for USA Women Ahead of Paris

Some Notes from the Press Conference:

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