The first part of the pan-Pacific dream has been realized: From Westhills to Tokyo, the Canadian women鈥檚 rugby sevens team has qualified for the 2020 Olympics.
The next part, reaching the podium, will play out next summer.
The Langford-based national team stamped its ticket to Tokyo 2020 at the final World Series tournament of the season in Biarritz, France.
sa国际传媒 beat Spain 22-19 and then rallied from a 10-point deficit to defeat Ireland 27-10 Saturday to assure an Olympic berth. The third game of pool play, a 27-14 loss to Australia, proved meaningless as sa国际传媒 had already clinched its place at Tokyo 2020 and a quarter-final game today in Biarritz against France.
The top-four teams in the final World Series standings qualify automatically for the 2020 Summer Games.
Three of those spots have gone to New Zealand, sa国际传媒 and the U.S. The fourth will be decided today.
That will make five qualifiers so far, along with host Japan. The final seven teams will be decided through regional qualifiers this summer.
sa国际传媒 and the U.S. avoided having to go through the North American, Central American and Caribbean Olympic qualifier on July 6-7 in the Cayman Islands.
鈥淭hat was our goal the whole year to qualify and get top four,鈥� said veteran Canadian player Bianca Farella, who scored five tries on Saturday.
鈥淲e are so ecstatic, so happy and so relieved. We are happy to have achieved our long-term goal.鈥�
The Canadians came close to clinching their Olympic spot at the sa国际传媒 Sevens last month at Westhills Stadium in Langford, but fell short. They made sure they locked it down in Olympian fashion in Biarritz.
The veteran-laden Canadian team is captained by Ghislaine Landry, the all-time career leading scorer in women鈥檚 sevens World Series history.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always an honour to represent your country on the world stage and the 2016 Olympic Games [where sa国际传媒 won bronze in Rio] was new territory for all of us,鈥� she said.
鈥淲e鈥檒l be giving it everything we have to get back onto that podium next summer in Tokyo.鈥�
Meanwhile, Raptors-mania bled across the field to the court. The Canadian players, on the Rugby sa国际传媒 Twitter account, sent out a video before the France Sevens with the players saying: 鈥淗ey Raptors Nation: The national women鈥檚 sevens have got your backs. We鈥檙e going for Olympic qualification this weekend and you guys are going for an NBA championship. Big things happening up north. Let鈥檚 show them what sa国际传媒 can do.鈥�
It was mission accomplished on both field and court.
