Olympic Rugby
1924; the booming 20s were well underway. St Petersburg, Russia had its named changed to Leningrad, a US presidential address was aired on the radio for the first time and the first ‘thanksgiving’ parade in New York took place. 1924 and the 20s in general were times of firsts, World War I was behind people and the world looked forward to a prosperous future. Well with the beauty of hindsight we can see that 1924 also was a ‘last’ for something. 1924, 2 generations ago was the last time that Rugby took part in the Olympics.

The ‘Chariots of Fire’ games took place in Paris, France and the United States of America won Olympic Gold defeating the home nation 17-3 in the final. 83 years later Rugby once again stands on the precipice of being welcomed back into what most of the world considers sporting immortality, the Olympic Games.
After an unsuccessful bid for entry into the 2012 games, Rugby is at the forefront of applicants for entry into the 2016 games. For the International Rugby Board the application process is nearly over, they have presented their case and decision now firmly rests in the hands of the IOC and its members.

Of course this time it’s a different form of rugby to that of the one that took place in Paris many moons ago; Rugby Sevens, the 7-a-side modified form of the game is the game looking for entrance. It has proven in recent times that its global appeal at an elite level reaches much further than that of its older brother the 15 a-side game and this has become part of the argument for its inclusion into the 4 yearly sporting jamboree.

Mr Lapasset hits on a very strong point, none of the above sides have a realistic chance of medalling if the 15s game was the chosen sport and in many cases other team sports but Rugby Sevens. With only 14 minutes, 7 men and whole lot of running, passing, hitting and did I mention running, all of these nations have a chance of taking home a medal for their country.