At the end of three scintillating days of Olympic men’s rugby sevens action, played out in front of captivated, capacity crowds of 69,000 at the iconic Stade de France, it was hosts France who took Paris 2024 gold amid euphoric scenes of celebration.
A sensational Antoine Dupont scored twice and set up another as he inspired France to claim the first team gold medal of the Paris Games with a 28-7 defeat of Fiji in the final.
Beating the two-time defending champions, who had never before lost a game of Olympic rugby sevens, the host nation dominated the second half as they scored three unanswered tries to claim their place on top of the podium.
Dupont entered the fray after the break and made an immediate impact, setting up a score for Aaron Grandidier Nkanang to nudge France ahead before scoring a brace of his own to secure gold and consign Fiji to silver.
South Africa joined France and Fiji on the podium, beating Australia 26-19 in a thrilling bronze medal match to repeat their finish at Rio 2016. South Africa were the last team to qualify for the 2024 Games, making their journey to the podium in Paris all the more impressive.
France reached the final with a 19-5 win over South Africa in the semi-final while Rio and Tokyo gold medallists Fiji turned on the style to beat Australia 31-7 to reach their third consecutive gold medal match.
New Zealand, Argentina, Kenya and Uruguay all ended their Olympic campaigns with wins in their respective play-offs. Uruguay claimed 11th spot with a 21-10 win over Japan, Kenya edged ninth place with a 10-5 victory over Samoa, Argentina clinched seventh as they cruised to a 19-0 win over the USA, and New Zealand beat Ireland 17-7 in the fifth place play-off.
The final was attended by French President Emmanuel Macron, Fiji President Wiliame Katonivere and IOC President Thomas Bach among a host of other dignitaries and famous fames inside Stade de France to witness the epic encounter between the SVNS 2024 champions France, and double Olympic champions Fiji who had never lost an Olympic match.
The gold medal match was refereed by Australia’s Jordan Way, while Jérémy Rozier from France took charge of the bronze medal match.
France’s former World Rugby Fifteens Player of the Year Antoine Dupont on where this achievement ranks in his career: “It’s such a great honour to win this title and I have such great emotions. It’s hard to describe. It is such a great thing to achieve with these boys. It’s really top of the list.
“I just want to share this with my teammates. We worked so hard for so long to do this. This is just the cherry on the cake.”
On whether he will play more rugby sevens: “I don’t know yet. I will enjoy this moment and then we’ll see.”
Aaron Grandidier Nkanang said on winning gold: “I can’t believe it. I’m really struggling to take it in. It’s an incredible story. After everything we’ve been through it’s just an amazing feeling.”
On the players’ on-pitch dance routine after their victory ceremony: “Dancing has been quite an active part of my training for the last few years and we decided to bring out our dance routine at the end there.
“I guess it worked because here we are with the gold. This medal is staying on my neck for as long as possible. I’m going to sleep with it, I’m going to go out with it, I’m going to travel with it, I’m going on holiday with it. It is staying glued to my neck. Look at it.”
On what it meant to play in front of 69,000 fans: “I just want to thank everyone who came out because it made it 100% incredible. None of us have experienced anything like it. I really hope that with the amount of people we’ve brought to the stadium, that people now start to appreciate rugby sevens for what it is. It’s such an incredible discipline.
“It’s often been seen as the crazy bit of rugby, but this is a genuine, serious competition with incredible athletes. Any personal status comes second for us to enhancing the sport. That’s what we wanted to do.”
Fiji captain Jerry Tuwai said: “We came for the gold but we have to settle for the silver. It was not what we wanted but France was too good for us today. We started really well but a lot of things happened that didn’t go our way.
“It is unfortunate that we lost the final but it has been a wonderful journey, since winning in Rio, Tokyo was a blessing and here in Paris too.
The only rugby sevens player with two gold medals to his name added: “I wanted to end my career with another gold but not everything goes to plan. I think it feels like the end for me at this moment. I don’t see myself playing again and I think I’ll go in to coaching in the future.”
South Africa’s Ryan Oosthuizen on winning bronze: “Honestly, I don’t have words. A lot of people didn’t give us a chance. We only qualified for the Games by repêchage, and if someone had said then, ‘You will be standing on the podium at the end’, I never would have believed them.
“It’s really awesome, a credit to the boys. I think we really fought for one another. We had an argument after day one about our standards. But we came together and said, ‘We have to fight for South Africa’. We are defiant people. And we did it. I am so glad.
“We had a couple of frank words (after the first day), but it all comes down to being desperate. We said we need to be desperate to win, we need to be desperate to make our passes, everything. And then we started to gain confidence and momentum from that point. You could see it in our play.”
World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont Beaumont hailed ‘perfect’ Paris as men’s rugby sevens enjoys golden moment with record crowds, huge audiences and spectacular sevens. Rugby’s energetic Olympic format has come of age, and World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont believes that Paris has been ‘perfect’ hosts with more to come.
“These Paris 2024 Games have proven to be our coming of age Olympics. The records have tumbled, the stage has never been so big. But beyond that, our incredible athletes have shone brightly, showing the world why Sevens is a perfect fit for the Olympics.
“I was honoured to be joined by the Presidents of France, Fiji and the IOC among other dignitaries to witness this majestic moment for rugby sevens. Congratulations to France on their incredible gold medal performance, which will has ignited these Olympic Games for the host nation, and well done to all the teams on playing their part in a spectacular sevens tournament.
“Paris has been perfect in every sense. The fans have been exceptional, Stade de France majestic. And the great news is that we are only halfway through. The world’s best women take centre stage tomorrow in front of what promises to be a world record crowd for a women’s rugby event ever. Another milestone. We can’t wait.”
The women’s teams takes centre stage on Sunday as the three-day competition gets under way at 15:30 local time (GMT+2) with pool phase matches followed by quarter-finals on Monday evening and finals day on Tuesday 30 July to bring down the curtain on a spectacular Olympic rugby sevens event.
