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'He was speaking more to the girls': When an Aussie 7s star met NBA royalty
By Finn Morton
The Tokyo Olympics will go down in history as the most unique celebration of sport, resilience and togetherness that the world has ever seen.
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After a couple of difficult years due to the Covid-19 pandemic – which saw the Games postponed for one year – the world came together as one in Tokyo.
These Games were able to honour the legacy and history of the event in the middle of a trying time for people all around the world.
For athletes, the 32nd Olympiad was also the finish line; an opportunity to finally realise childhood dreams after five years of training and sacrifice.
Australian Sevens ace Maurice Longbottom realised his Olympic dream in Tokyo.
While the speedsters journey to the Games was quite unique, after being told he was “too small” to play rugby league growing up, Longbottom is now an Olympian.
“It was a weird one due to Covid reasons, but once we got to the village, it was pretty much normal life,” Longbottom told RugbyPass.
“Everyone was hanging out with other people. We were playing cricket at the bottom of our building, we had a coffee machine there.
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“We were always trying to do something and interact with other athletes and we’re all there for one reason and that’s to compete.
“When we’re not competing, we can all hang out like a big family and have a bit of a laugh.
“That was an awesome experience, again devastated with the outcome but (it was) an experience I won’t forget.”
The world’s best athletes look to etch their names into sporting immortality with a gold medal at the Olympics every four years – or five in Tokyo’s case.
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But there are some people who carry a special aura about them; leaving other world class athletes in awe of their status and success.
Longbottom met two of Australia’s top athletes in Tokyo, as well as one of the greatest NBA players of the modern era.
“I met Patty Mills and I met Ash Barty, they were both at the top of their game at that time,” Longbottom added.
“I was also lucky enough to meet a couple of the USA basketball players, Kevin Durant and a few of the other boys came to the village so that was pretty awesome.
“(Durant) didn’t talk too much to be honest, he was speaking more to the girls than to the boys, he didn’t even smile in our photo.”
The Australian Men’s Sevens team fell short of a gold medal, as they were knocked out by Fiji in the quarter-finals.
While disappointing, the experience has kept Longbottom “hungry” for more.
When he signed his professional Rugby Sevens contract, Longbottom sat down and wrote down a few short and long-term goals.
As for his long-term goals, he’s already crossed some of them off: double Commonwealth Games appearance, and to go to two Rugby Sevens World Cups.
But there’s one more that eludes him – for now at least.
“Long-term goals, we had short-term goals that we wanted to tick off along the way. That was just keeping my mind hungry to go and achieve as much as I possibly could.
“Lucky enough for myself I was able to go off and tick all those small goals off, and then the long-term goals I’m still ticking off now.
“It’s been such a ride and I’ve loved every minute of it.
“Double Olympics, still yet to tick off. Just ticked off double Commonwealth Games and double World Cup. Those are two big ones for me.
“The double Olympics at the end, that’s my end goal. The second one on that would be top four this year so we automatically qualify for the Olympics.”
