As rugby proves smash hit at the Olympics, sport’s chief says it owes a massive debt to Hong Kong Sevens for that success
Brett Gosper lauds flagship Hong Kong Sevens as the model in bringing the sport to the Games
Rugby is at the Olympics to stay, the sport’s top man told the Post in Rio – and it couldn’t have happened without the Hong Kong Sevens.
Brett Gosper, World Rugby’s chief executive, promised a “Hong Kong Sevens experience” for fans at Tokyo 2020, and was confident the sport would remain at the Games long beyond that after the success of its debut in Brazil.
Fiji won the men’s gold medal – as every neutral wanted – to cap six successful days that had Gosper purring.
WATCH: golden moments on Day 6 at the Rio Olympics
“The Hong Kong Sevens has been the flagship event for some time and it is the event we point to when we try to show what the Olympics can be,” he said on the sidelines at the temporary stadium in Rio’s Deodoro area that hosted the action.
“We’ve always been able to take IOC members and people who are discovering the sport to a place like Hong Kong and show them what the Olympics could one day be – and this is confirming that.
“And for the players themselves who love going to Hong Kong, that I guess in many ways is the pinnacle of sevens rugby to win a Hong Kong tournament, and it’s a great training run for them to now be at Olympic finals stage and thinking ‘here’s another big occasion’.”
