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Olympic rugby sevens schedule confirmed for Paris 2024
By Ian Cameron
The Paris 2024 Olympic rugby sevens match schedule has been unveiled with 16 days to go until the sport kicks off the games.
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The men’s competition will take place on 24, 25 and 27 July, with the women’s tournament following on 28-30 July. The men’s final on 27 July will be the first team sport gold medal of the Games.
Australia and Samoa will begin the men’s competition, while hosts France start against USA and holders Fiji face debutants Uruguay. Ireland and Great Britain begin the women’s tournament on 28 July, while reigning champions New Zealand play Challenger champions China.
A full house of 69,000 fans is expected for every session in Stade de France, which hosted the final of Rugby World Cup 2023. The schedule follows the pools announcement, which took place in Monaco on 23 June and saw the 12 men’s and 12 women’s teams allocated to three pools of four teams based on their Olympic seedings, with teams ranked according to their performances over the last two years of the HSBC SVNS Series.
All the action will take place at Stade de France, as rugby sevens prepares to make its mark on the Olympic stage in its third appearance at the Games.
World Rugby Chief Executive Alan Gilpin said: “The unveiling of the match schedule is another exciting step on the road to Paris with just 16 days to go until rugby sevens kicks off the Olympic Games. The players, teams and fans can now mark their calendars and fine tune their preparations for what promises to be an incredible six days of fast paced, all action drama as some of the best athletes in the world showcase the speed, strength and skill of rugby sevens to a huge worldwide audience.
“Following rugby sevens’ Olympic debut at Rio 2016 and the Covid affected Games in Tokyo, we are anticipating Paris 2024 to be the sport’s ‘coming of age’ Games – the biggest and best yet – with a full house of passionate fans expected across all sessions at the iconic Stade de Fance, representing a golden opportunity to further grow rugby’s global appeal.”
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Paris 2024 Executive Director of Sport Competitions Aurélie Merle said: “Rugby sevens has the honour of kicking off the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and we know the atmosphere will be electric inside the Stade de France, with full and passionate crowds for every session in a country that truly loves rugby.
“The release of the competition schedule raises our anticipation even higher, with so many tantalising match-ups to look forward to. With less than three weeks to go, the stage is set and everything is ready for the athletes to enjoy an unrivalled experience and to thrill all those millions of fans watching in France and around the world.”
