New Zealand, Argentina, Fiji and Australia qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games by winning one of the four places awarded by the World Rugby Seven Series, which ended this weekend in London, England.
Australia finished the season in fifth place with only one point ahead of Samoa and benefited from the fact that France, already qualified for the Olympic Games because it was the organizing country, was fourth and freed up a spot.
New Zealand was the big dominator of the season: it accumulated 200 points and titles in Sydney, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Singapore and Toulouse; Argentina, for its part, added 179 units and became champion in Hamilton, Vancouver and London, where the world circuit was closed at the legendary Twickenham stadium.
Australia (133) had stayed with the first stage that took place in November of last year in Hong Kong, while South Africa (seventh with 120) and Samoa (132) were the other World Rugby Seven Series champions this season, winning in Dubai and Cape Town, respectively.
These four selected teams who managed to pass to Paris 2024 on the world circuit, plus France for hosting, will be joined by another seven to finish making up the 12 that will be part of rugby at the Olympic Games. How will the classification be?
Six places will be defined in the different continental tournaments: there will be one qualifier for South America (17 and 18 June 2023 in Montevideo), North America (to be defined), Europe (at the European Games in Krakow from 21 June to 3 July), Africa (to be defined), Asia (to be defined) and Oceania (to be defined).
Meanwhile, the last qualifier for Paris 2024 will be defined in the Olympic Repechage that will take place in June of next year and in which 12 selected teams will participate (two for each continental tournament).
Rugby, in its sevens form, was present for the first time at the Olympic Games in Rio 2016 and the gold medal went to Fiji, which five years later repeated the title in Tokyo. The United Kingdom and South Africa completed the podium in Brazil, while New Zealand and Argentina completed the podium in Japan.
The men’s tournament at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will be held at the Stade de France, in Saint-Denis, between July 24 and 27; while the women’s tournament will be held from 29 to 31.
There are also five qualified teams among women so far: New Zealand (won six of the seven stages of the World Rugby Seven Series), Australia (won the rest), the United States and Ireland, which, like Australia among men, was fifth and benefited that France finished the season in fourth place and freed up a place.