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Just before she decided to break up Winning an Olympic gold medalSarah Hirini was hit hard in the face.
Trapped in her own line and leading 14-12, Hiriny broke through the Canadian defence and charged forward. She didn’t have enough power to get from one end to the other, but the Black Ferns managed to move the ball around and in the next period, Hiriny passed the final ball to Stacey Vaca, who slid into the net for the game-winner.
The Black Ferns Sevens co-captain is likely to have suffered a fractured cheekbone during the match. Shillini was sent for assessment shortly after winning his second consecutive gold medal with the Sevens champions.
It was just another brutal injury that Shiriny suffered for her team.
Sarah Hirini made a crucial breakthrough as the inspirational leader of the Black Ferns Sevens rugby team in their gold medal campaign at the Paris Olympics.
photo: Xinhua/Xu Chang/AFP
She shouldn’t have competed in Paris. Not according to conventional medicine, anyway. She was beaten in Doha last December. Rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament of the right knee.
It usually takes at least nine months for an athlete to recover from a ruptured cruciate ligament, but Shirini made it back to the Olympic trials in just six and a half months, enough for coach Corey Sweeney to believe she could shine in Paris.
Sweeney and Shillini embraced during the post-match celebrations at the Stade de France on Tuesday night (local time), with her bruised and bloodied face full of emotion.
Sweeney’s message to his star players was simple.
“I just said to her: ‘I’m really proud of you’. Because not many people can do what she did.”
Shiriny just underwent knee surgery late last year and is currently recovering.
photo: Instagram/sarah.hirini
“I’ve never seen anything like this.”
This match is not destined to go down in history. As Portia Woodman-Wycliffe said, all else being equal, this was probably the Black Ferns’ worst performance at the 2024 Paris tournament. This victory was built more on the team’s tenacious, gritty defending than the pace and attacking flair they are known for.
But when the chances came, the Black Ferns took them. A brilliant goal from Hirrini five minutes into the second half was one of them.
“She’s someone who has developed good performance habits like no other I’ve ever met, so the work she’s put in over a seven-month period to get back to where she is now gives you confidence that in the pressure moments she’ll step up,” Sweeney said.
“One thing you know about Shiriny is her determination and mentality. When she’s under pressure, she gives it her all. She’s injured quite a bit at the moment. It’s no surprise she can do this – she’s a special person and she’s done it without playing any rugby in seven months.”
Hirini and teammate Michaela Blyde won gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
photo: Ian McGregor/ www.photosport.nz
The birth of women’s rugby in New Zealand
Cirini was not able to join her cheering teammates for a late-night media interview outside the Stade de France as she was selected for a doping test and then required to undergo a full examination by medical staff.
But Shiriny has never been one for the spotlight. She would rather people focus on the team’s departing stars Woodman-Wickliffe and Tyra KingBoth men announced before these Olympics that this would be their last time competing in black jerseys.
Like Hirrini, the two veterans are part of New Zealand’s first generation of professional women’s players, joining the sport when it was still in its infancy.
The inclusion of rugby sevens in the Olympic Games changed the trajectory of women’s rugby in New Zealand and the lives of the players.
After the game, Woodman-Wycliffe She owns not only the gold she won in Wednesday’s final, but also the gold she won in Tokyo three years ago and the silver in Rio in 2016. Each medal has its own story.
“It’s hard to put into one word 12 years of work, sacrifice, passion, love, fear, crying. So I think it’s just gratitude,” she said.
“You know, I’m just so grateful for the quality time I was able to spend with the girls, the team and my family.”
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