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Maddison Levi scores seven as Australia start Olympics with two wins
By Finn Morton
Maddison Levi has scored seven tries on a perfect opening day at Stade de France for the Australian women’s sevens side, who started their quest for Olympic glory with convincing wins over South Africa and Great Britain.
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Levi, 22, broke the record for the most tries scored in a single women’s SVNS Series season during the 2022/23 campaign and was once again prolific on the scoreboard during the Aussies’ run to the overall title in 2023/24.
But the Queenslander took things to an all-new level at the world’s biggest sporting event. Levi put on a show in Saint-Denis as Australia started their Paris Games with two scintillating wins over Olympic-level opposition.
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South Africa showed signs of promise on the SVNS Series this year and Great Britain have added Red Roses fullback Ellie Kildunne to an already talented group. But both sides were no match for Levi’s Australia who scored 70 points on day one.
Levi was especially impressive, with the point-scoring machine running in for a four-try haul against South Africa and later adding a hat-trick against the Brits.
“To be able to start like that and build as the tournament goes on is an awesome feeling,’ Maddison Levi said in a statement.
“Starting well is something we’ve been working on all year. We’ve got a lot of things we can still work on which is good.”
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Track and field doesn’t start until next week at the Games but Levi shot out of the blocks with a phenomenal showing of pace and grit. The former AFLW forward scored three phases after the opening kick-off against South Africa and kept the good times going.
Levi, who was described as a “freakish talent” in an Australian sevens statement, completed a first-half hat-trick before adding one more during the second term as one of the gold medal favourites kicked things off in style.
Later against Team GB, Ellie Kildunne came within mere metres of scoring the opener after making a significant break up the field. But when Levi isn’t scoring tries, she’s stopping them in defence – the Australian dragging Kildunne down just short of the try line.
But Maddison’s younger sister Teagan was yellow carded for slowing the ball down, which allowed the Brits to take their position for a set-piece move. They ended up taking a surprise lead with a try to Heather Cowell which wasn’t converted.
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It was all Australia from there, though.
Maddison Levi scored the first two for the Aussies before Bienne Terita added another to give the favourites a strong lead going into the break. Terita completed a double about 30 seconds into the second half to almost certainly determine the victor.
Both Levi sisters scored one each to round out a dominant 36-5 win.
Australia have already qualified for the Paris Olympics quarterfinals after winning their first two matches, but momentum is important in any sport, but especially rugby sevens. They have one more pool match and they’ll be desperate to win that.
The Aussies take on Ireland at 10.30 pm AEST on Monday.
