Pelite reveals team's gold-en goal
Published 4:00pm 8 July 2021
Evania Pelite secured her moment in this nation's sporting history when she gave Australia the lead in the first Olympic Women’s Rugby 7s final five years ago.
Now the former Hercules Road School student who played rugby league for Deception Bay Raiders (now Moreton Bay Raiders), is chasing her second Olympic gold.
Pelite, 25, is one of five members of Australia’s winning squad in Rio, to be selected for the Tokyo Games where they are in a pool with the US, China and Japan.
Their toughest opponents may be the US which has finished in the top six of all four World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series since Rio.
“Defending our Olympic gold medal has been the team’s goal since Rio and we have continued to work hard for that,” she told Rugby AU.
Really proud
Pelite said she had been “really proud” how the team rallied together during the pandemic and tackled the challenges it posed for sport.
The former St Columban’s College, Caboolture student left Deception Bay for Sydney five years ago and made her Australian rugby sevens debut at 17.
Four years later Pelite helped Australia to gold in the Rio Olympics beating New Zealand 24-17 in the final and won silver in the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Due to the pandemic Pelite played in the NRLW competition last year with New Zealand Warriors, who were based in Australia.
Women’s Olympics Rugby Sevens for matches at Tokyo Stadium July 26-31:
Pool A: New Zealand, Russia, Great Britain, Kenya
Pool B: Canada, France, Fiji, Brazil
Pool C: Australia, United States of America, China, Japan
There's more news here
Related Stories
Top Stories
New $6m upgrade for Redcliffe Paceway
New lighting upgrades for the Redcliffe Peninsula Harness Racing and Sporting Club are officially set to commence this month. Here's the details
Popular Stories
Dakabin RSPCA sharing heartfelt stories
As Million Paws Walk approaches on May 26, Dakabin RSPCA has been sharing heartfelt stories of some beloved four-legged friends in their care. Here's the story
Honouring Diggers who ‘did their bit’
Former SAS soldier Nev Farley remembers always wanting to join the Army as a child and says ANZAC Day is a chance to honour those who ‘lined up and did their bit’. We chat to him ahead of this week's commemorations
NRL raffle prize to help house fire family
A premium corporate suite for 14 people and 70 double passes to the Dolphins NRL V Newcastle Knights clash will be used to raise money for a young family left with nothing following a recent house fire. Here’s the details