The cruel injury that cut SVNS Series rookie’s Olympic dream short

Sport can be so cruel.

Kaitlin Shave had long held onto the goal of one day representing Australia at the Olympic Games. That childhood dream was realised when Shave was included in Team Australia’s women’s rugby sevens squad for the Paris Olympics earlier this year.

Australia’s travelling squad was announced alongside the men’s sevens team at Restaurant Hubert in Sydney’s CBD before they jetted off to France soon after. The countdown to the Games continued to tick by and eventually, those selected took the field.

Thousands packed the stands at the iconic modern-day sports Coliseum that is Stade de France for six action-packed days of rugby sevens at the Games. The men had their three-day tournament first, and then it was time for the women’s sides to compete for gold.

 

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But, in Australia’s opening match, Shave suffered a devastating knee injury that cut the speedster’s dream short. Shave was shown a yellow card after going down with a significant ACL blow in a win over a valiant South African outfit.

“All of it is quite a bit of a blur still, but I think when I first initially did it, I caught the ball and twisted. I think I knew I had done something wrong,” Shave reflected in an interview with RugbyPass and Rugby.com.au last weekend.

“It wasn’t enough pain that I thought, ‘Okay, I need to stop here.’ It’s kind of like, ‘Oh maybe I just twisted it a bit awkwardly.’

“That’s why I kept playing on. I think the adrenaline definitely helped as well.”

Shave took to Instagram to pen an emotional message as the “heartbroken” SVNS Series rookie came to terms with what had happened. “The girls gave it everything that had… this one’s gonna hurt for a while,” Shave wrote on August 1^st.

 

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Australia were up there with New Zealand as the two clear gold medal favourites. With Shave amongst their ranks, the women in gold had claimed the SVNS Series’ ultimate prize after outclassing their Trans-Tasman foe and France on the way to championship glory.

That set the tone for the Olympics as the Aussies grew in confidence ahead of the Games. It was clear when speaking with players at Restaurant Hubert, the squad shared an unwavering confidence that they could push on to win Olympic gold.

But, once again, sport can be so cruel.

Australia were stunned by Canada 21-12 in the semi-finals before a runaway try to Alex Sedrick saw the USA claim an upset win in the battle for bronze. The Aussies had gone from gold medal contenders to not even making the podium.

That capped off a tough few days for Shave.

But the former high school sprint champion is still “positive” about the experience.

“Whenever someone asks me about my Olympic experience I say it was honestly the best experience of my life. It’s what I worked so hard towards for years and years and years,” Shave explained at Forshaw Rugby Park south of Sydney.

“Since I was little I always wanted to go to an Olympics.

“Despite the injury I still had the best time and the whole experience was amazing.

“Looking back I’m still very happy and I can still see my whole Olympic experience as a positive.”

That Olympics brought an end to the international sevens season. The 2023/24 campaign had been a special one for Shave, with the Australian debuting on the SVNS Series at the season-opening event at Dubai’s The Sevens Stadium in December.

Shave was later nominated for the SVNS Series Rookie of the Year gong after a breakout campaign. Juana Stella from Spain and Canada’s Carissa Norsten were also up for the award, with Norsten announced as the winner at Madrid’s Civitas Metropolitano.

Today, the 23-year-old is only six weeks post-op and can be expected to miss anywhere from nine to 12 months. But still, she couldn’t stop smiling when reflecting on the year that was in Aussie gold.

“Even looking back on all that I’ve achieved in the past 12 months or less, it’s definitely a massive pinch me moment.

“I still have to kind of shake myself a little bit every day and look and appreciate all the things that I have achieved.

“I’m very grateful for all the opportunities I’ve had.

“I’m sitting here now out for the next season but I’m still in a good mindset because I’m happy with what I achieved last season.”