Rugby
ESPN staff 5y

AOC boss John Coates predicts bright future for Olympic rugby sevens

Rugby, Olympic Sports, World Rugby Sevens Series

Rugby sevens has scope to become one of the premier Olympic events as the run to Tokyo 2020 begins with the first of the women's World Series events this weekend.

That's the opinion of long-time Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates, who played a key role in helping to get sevens added alongside golf for the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016. Working alongside late All Blacks great Jonah Lomu as well as former Australia Sevens captain Cheryl Soon, Coates fought initial resistance from the Home Unions [England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales] as well as some mistrust between the International Olympic Committee and the then International Rugby Board, to help get the game's shortened format over the line.

Speaking with ESPN's Greg Growden, Coates revealed how he and his fellow lobbyists used the growth of the women's game to help convince IOC delegates; a seven-year journey that had him beaming with pride when the event made its Olympic debut in Brazil and was later declared as one of the Games' big success stories.

"It was an absolute highlight," Coates told ESPN. "We'd seen what the men were doing in sevens but once the women got on the program - it had always been a good standard - once it got on the program, it's gone to a whole new level.

"We had the men's and women's on the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing in 2014, where our girls won [but] the development since then, the skills that those girls have across many teams; it's not just the traditional countries, you've got Russia, Canada and the United States in there...it's really something that's very, very pleasurable to watch."

The inaugural women's Olympic final was contested by traditional foes Australia and New Zealand, whose rivalry has since hit even greater heights on the World Sevens Series and also produced a dramatic Commonwealth Games decider the Black Ferns won in extra time earlier this year.

The men's tournament, meanwhile, saw Fiji claim its maiden Olympic triumph when they defeated Great Britain, the result sending the tiny Pacific Island nation delirious with pride, eventually leading to the production of a "seven dollar note".

But even with the success of its Rio debut, rugby sevens Olympic inclusion beyond Tokyo wasn't guaranteed until a touch of good fortune.

"Well the fact is that it was only ever put on for two Games and then it was to be reviewed along with golf," Coates told ESPN. "But I'm the chair of the IOC Legal Affairs Commission and when Thomas Bach became IOC President in 2017, he quickly convened a meeting and he wanted to set a framework for the Olympic movement for the next 20 years-plus, and we called it Agenda 2020.

"And we decided then that host cities would have the opportunity to propose some sports for their Games, so Tokyo's got five new sports for their Games. But there was an opportunity then to [say]: well how do you regard all the other sports? Do you have the [28] sports and then the two that are only on for two Games, when we're doing the change to our charter or constitution? The easiest solution was to regard them all as core sports.

"So, by a stroke of the pen, which I'm sure the President of the IOC did notice, suddenly rugby and golf are included now on exactly the same basis as all the other core sports. To change the sports on the Olympic program would take a resolution of the full session of the IOC, who do review it from time to time and that will come up, but they're [rugby and golf] not sitting out there on their own to be targeted."

The positive reception was also evident in the key business departments.

"The international federations divide up the television rights' money from the previous Games and they have an independent group that assesses the profile of each of the sports, based on broadcast, social media, the crowds and all of those things," Coates told ESPN. "Rugby and golf are both well entrenched, in the last analysis that I saw, in the top half [of sports] and there's no issue there that I can see," Coates told ESPN.

This weekend's women's World Series opener in Colorado, United States, heralds the start of the run to Tokyo 2020, with the top four at the end of the season standings joining hosts Japan as automatic qualifiers. From there, the remaining seven spots will be filled by regional tournaments and a final repechage event.

Australia's Olympic women's defence has been boosted by the re-signing of a number of key players through 2020, the latest of which are Emma Tonegato and Ellia Green. Tonegato will not be part of Australia's squad for this weekend's opening World Series event but Wallaroos Test star Samantha Treherne will debut after jumping across from the 15s program.

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