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Maddison Levi labelled ‘unstoppable’ after breaking Olympic try record
By Finn Morton
After the first day of play at the women’s rugby sevens tournament at the Olympics, 2016 Rio gold medallist Alicia Lucas compared Maddison Levi to the “bright” Eiffel Tower that illuminates the Parisian night sky.
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Levi, 22, was the star that shone brightest on Sunday at Stade de France with the Queenslander scoring an incredible seven tries in just two matches. That had the Aussie on the cusp of try-scoring history and she broke that record in two wins over Ireland.
Australia battled the fighting Irish in a nervy pool stage clash which finished 19-14 before following that with an utterly dominant 40-7 win in the quarter-finals. Ireland are out of medal contention while the Australians march on.
Rugby sevens is a team sport and no athlete or fan would dare claim otherwise, but there’s no doubt that the Tim Walsh-coached Australians have a gem in Maddison Levi. Levi scored four tries on day two to extend her tournament tally to 11.
That’s the most tries scored by a woman in an Olympic Games.
“She is absolutely outstanding and she is making her mark on the Olympics this year, this time around,” Australian sevens legend Alicia Lucas explained on Stan Sports’ Olympics Daily.
“She is a powerhouse. The ability to repeat speed like the way that she does and perform on the biggest stage, hats off to her and all the work.
“It comes from those inside her. The likes of Charlotte Caslick who are feeding her the ball, Tia Hinds who is doing all the dirty work on the ground, Faith Nathan the one who’s inside of her being the threat that people have to shut down.
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“There’s so many weapons and she’s just that brilliant finisher on the edge, but she’s unstoppable. She really is unstoppable.”
In that quarter-final victory, Levi got the party started with a try just 46 seconds into the contest. Levi ran a clever switch play with younger sister Teagan to run in untouched for the first of many five-pointers for the favourites.
The two Levis combined for the next score a few minutes later, and ‘Maddi’ later completed a first-half hat-trick. That was Levi’s third hat-trick in four matches at these Games which shows just how dominant she is.
Faith Nathan, Isabella Nasser and Bienne Terita all got on the board as one of the favourites to take out Olympic gold booked their place in a semi-final against Canada.
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“It was an incredible victory. A little bit of doubt probably crept into some of the viewers with the close game in that last pool game,” Lucas said.
“But a clinical performance in that quarter-final. Dominant, Maddi Levi, again, you can’t not say her name when you’re talking about the Australian women’s sevens. Three tries in that first half. Incredible.
“Then, subbing on Bienne Terita – powerhouse, finishing that game in emphatic fashion.
“It was just fantastic to see… charging forward into that semi-final tomorrow. It’s exciting, exciting stuff.”
Canada booked their place in the semi-finals with a stunning 19-14 win over tournament hosts France. The Canadians did beat the Aussies at Vancouver’s BC Place Stadium earlier this year and they’ll look to do the same in Paris to secure a medal.
New Zealand beat China 55-5 to set up a date with Iloner Maher’s USA after they defeated Ellie Kildunne’s Great Britain 17-7.
