Australia's Sharni Smale to retire from sevens after Paris Olympic Games

Australia’s Sharni Smale has announced on social media that she will retire from international rugby sevens on the biggest stage of all in Paris. The 2016 Olympic gold medallist will hang up her rugby sevens boots after the upcoming Games.

Smale is looking to go out on top as a winner, but the impact the 36-year-old has had will forever be a game-changer regardless of that outcome. The Aussie is a true pioneer of the women’s game and has also been a role model for the LGBTQI+ community.

After initially breaking onto the international rugby scene as a Wallaroo in a Test against New Zealand in 2008, Smale played at the Women’s Rugby World Cup two years later before making the switch to sevens.

 

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With Smale leading the way, the Aussies went on to win their first World Series (now called SVNS Series) crown in 2015/16 before backing that up with gold at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Smale was a co-captain then along with fellow-great Shannon Parry

Smale is also a 2022 Rugby Sevens World Cup winner and a two-time medallist at the Commonwealth Games. Australia were successful in their pursuit of gold at the 2022 Comm Games in Birmingham, England.

What Smale has achieved on the sevens stage is legendary, but all good things must com to an end. The Aussie’s decorated sevens career will come to an end in front of 80,000 fans at Stade de France from July 28 to 30.

“It’s been a wild ride,” Smale wrote on social media.

“After 12 years of being part of an incredible group of humans and playing the game I love, my time with Aussie 7’s will conclude after Paris 2024.

“It’s difficult to put into words what this game and the people who have shared my journey mean to me, but I am left with an overwhelming sense of gratitude and humility.

“Rugby has given me a sense of belonging, and allowed me to feel safe to express who I am and how others it’s okay to do the same.

“The lifelong friendships made are what I’ll take with me, along with the memories of the incredible highs and lows we have shared together.

“I feel privileged to have played a part in the growth of the game to what it is today, and will always be the biggest champion of it, even from the sidelines.

“Before that though, one more job to do.”

Smale is the second Australian women’s star to recently announce their retirement with Dominique du Toit also set to hang up the boots. Both are massive losses for the women in gold with the pair playing leading roles in their recent successes.

Across the ditch, New Zealand’s Tyla King and Portia Woodman-Wickliffe have made the same announcement. The Paris Olympics is an opportunity to celebrate the sport and also the stars who have made rugby sevens what it is today.

“Yeah, I’m getting a little bit emotional when you said that. It’s one of my best mates,” New Zealand women’s captain Sarah Hirini told RugbyPass last month when asked about Woodman-Wickliffe retiring.

“Knowing that it will be her last, to be honest every time she talks about it I’m just like, ‘Boo!’ I don’t want it to happen.

“But she’ll be someone who won’t get replicated ever again. She’s probably a once-in-a-generation athlete.

“I remember back in the day, 2012, she left a netball camp, came to our camp and absolutely carved [up], she was just a freak and has just grown from that. Has played rugby that I don’t think anyone could ever do again.

“The hardest thing about her is she’s fast but also so strong that. Even at trainings no one wants to defend her because she’s either going to run over the top of you or run around you.

“[She’s] done everything, has tried everything and just been, I think, an absolute legend for our sport.”