The United States sevens rugby team won its first ever Olympic medal when it took bronze in Paris last week. The thrilling victory over top-ranked Australia that secured the medal is just one of many victories that usher in a new era for women’s sport.
Nicole Heavirland of Whitefish traveled to Paris as an alternate for the Olympic team and said, “It was unreal. The competition, the stadium, a bronze medal – the whole experience was incredible.”
The medal is a step towards the goal of “making women’s rugby even more popular in America. It is a huge lever to develop the sport and we have received nothing but support for that,” said Heavirland.
“When you ask a little girl or boy ‘what do you want to play?’ and they answer rugby, we are one step closer to our goal of inspiring young generations,” Heavirland said.
Heavirland’s long journey in the sport began in 2011 with the Black & Blue Flathead rugby team.
At Tokyo 2020, Heavirland was co-captain of the Olympic sevens team. She appeared in all six games for the USA, started five games, and finished with 22 points, converting on 11 of 13 attempts. The team finished in sixth place.
At the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, Heavirland traveled as a substitute and the team finished fifth.
Now that her third Olympic competition is over, Heavirland said she is “just enjoying the Olympics and continuing to train at the same time.”
“I’m staying until graduation on August 11th. It’s great to meet athletes from the US and other countries and I’m so grateful to have my family and friends here. They all had tickets to Tokyo but of course couldn’t make it because of Covid, so it was more than special for them to be able to come here with me,” Heavirland said.
Heavirland has documented her experiences on social media, helping to inspire the next generation of young women to take up the sport.
With the slogan “Beast, beauty, brains,” her teammate Illona Maher is not only a force on the field, but also an advocate for body positivity on social media.
Heavirland has also shown her strength on social media. In a July 28 video on Instagram with the caption “@jasonkelce, hold on to the table a little?” she nearly defeated former Philadelphia Eagles NFL football player Jason Kelce in an arm wrestling contest.
“I got to give Jason Kelce a jersey that the whole team had signed. And then I spontaneously asked, ‘Hey, do you want to arm wrestle?’ and he was really excited. He said, ‘Let’s find a table!'” Heavirland said.
US rugby player Nicole Heavirland is in Paris with family and friends for the Olympic Games. (Photo provided)
