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Australia qualify for Paris 2024: The teenager with 'the world ahead of me'
By Finn Morton
Two more nations have booked their tickets to Paris 2024 after securing their spot in the women’s quarter-finals at an historic Cathy/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens.
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Reigning World Series champions Australia secured their spot at a third-consecutive Olympic Games after beating Ireland 19-12 at Hong Kong Stadium.
The United States are also off to Paris after opening day wins over Spain and Japan; joining New Zealand and France as the only other teams to have qualified out of the women’s series.
As the full-time whistle sounded at Hong Kong Stadium, the Australians didn’t celebrate out in the middle – they saved that for the tunnel.
After walking down the north-west tunnel at the famous sevens venue, the team gathered in a huddle along with head coach Tim Walsh.
But amongst the seriousness of the moment were a few laughs – and they had every right to celebrate.
The Australian women’s team had officially qualified for next year’s Games, but as teenager Teagan Levi said, “The hard work doesn’t stop now.”
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“We are lucky enough to qualify for Paris so we were pretty excited, that was one of our goals this year.
“It’s a squad at the moment so you’ve still got to get picked but the hard work doesn’t stop now.
“It’s only a dream come true and to go to the Olympics would also be a dream come true, alongside some of my best friends and my sister.”
Like her sister Maddison Levi, who has proved herself to be one of the best players on this year’s circuit, Teagan has a background in Australian Rules Football.
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Teagan was drafted sixth overall by the Gold Coast Suns in the AFLW Draft a couple of years ago, and was reportedly among the favourites to go first.
Maddison Levi played Aussie Rules with the Gold Coast Suns, before deciding to pursue Sevens full-time.
– Levi spoke with @FinnMorton5 ✍️ #WorldSevensSeries #Australia #Rugby #WomensRugby https://t.co/CYU52RhPZz
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 16, 2023
But along with her sister, the now 19-year-old decided to pursue a rugby sevens career.
“It definitely wasn’t an easy decision, it was hard, lots of tears, but you couldn’t put up travelling the world with my sister,” she added.
“We’ve been to so many different countries and there’s still a lot to go.
“I’m only a teenager so I’ve got the world ahead of me.”
Playing in the No. 5 jersey, Levi has started both matches for Australia in Hong Kong so far – along with her sister Maddison.
After crossing for a try in their opening pool match against Brazil, Levi added another score to her Hong Kong tally against Ireland.
In front of the roaring fans in the famous south stand, the teenager scored a crucial try in the fifth minute.
“It was awesome to score in front of that south stand (who are) cheering pretty loud.
“The girls got me in the right spot at the right time.
“It’s really exciting (to play in Hong Kong). It’s been a long time coming but for us to finally play in front of the crowd at Hong Kong Sevens, we’ve got told it was amazing and they’re proving it right.”
The Australians have one more match in Pool B, and it’s a blockbuster against an undefeated Fiji side on Saturday.
