RUGBY SEVENS: Asked what her mum would say if she found her daughter one-on-one with ball in hand against her opposite number at Deodoro Stadium, Ellia Green gives a typical Ellia Green response.
“Run like there’s a big scary dog chasing you and don’t look back,” said Green.
The Suva-born 23-year-old flyer – aka The Green Machine or the Fastest Woman in Rugby - has been the most-talked about female rugby sevens player on the planet since an astonishing tournament in Dubai last December.
But despite the plaudits, Green will never forget her number one supporter – her mother Yolanta.
“I can’t wait to see my mum [in Rio],” explains Green.
“I’ve not seen her in months so I can’t wait to have her here. She’s been watching me run since I was five years-old so to have her watching me and the team at an Olympic Games is going to be something else.
“She’s seen me play at matches like the exhibition games at the Sydney sevens but it’ll be the first time she’d have seen me in a competitive tournament. I guess it’s a pretty important tournament too!”
100m sprinters love the drama of the big stage, and with billions of people watching rugby sevens’ debut at the Summer Olympics, you get the feeling that Green is made for this arena. Originally holding a desire to compete at The Greatest Show on Earth as a track and field athlete, Green made the transition from sprinter to rugby sevens in 2012.
Since arriving in Brazil, the women’s rugby sevens team has been training with their male counterparts at the Portobello Resort south of Rio de Janeiro. And despite enjoying the luxury surrounds, Green is relishing the opportunity to sample the unique atmosphere of a multi-sport, global event.
“Training sessions down here have been tough, that’s for sure, but it’s probably more based on being precise with our skill work and fine tuning our strategies,” Green added.
"That said, it will be such a thrill when we get to the village [on Monday]. I can’t wait – that’s when it will hit home that we are at an Olympic Games. Here in Portobello, you have the palm trees, beaches, massages on the beach – it’s all been very relaxing. But by the time we get to the village it’ll be full throttle.”
The Australian women’s rugby sevens team won seven games from seven over their Pool A opponents – USA, Fiji and Colombia - during the 2015-16 World Series, but Green is paying due respect to each and every team in Rio.
“We’ll be taking our pool matches one game at a time for the reason that each team have very different styles of play," said Green.
"We’re not going to take any of the teams lightly and we’ll respect each of them. We’ll review each game, before and after, and then take it from there.”
Green, who scored 17 tries from three tournaments during Australia’s history-making campaign, doesn’t agree with pundits who have said the fight for medals is a straight shoot-out between the teams that have finished in the top four for the past two seasons – Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Great Britain (who played as England in the World Series).
“New Zealand, Team GB and Canada are three very strong sides, very physical and they are teams we really look forward to playing," Green added.
"We love coming up against New Zealand – they play a similar structure to us and it’s always fun playing against them.
“But what I will say is that all of the teams will be will very physical and even against the underdog teams like France and Fiji, they’ll all be tough games as they never, ever give up.”
The women’s rugby sevens tournament takes place on day one of Rio 2016, with top seeds Australia kicking off against Colombia (2.30am AEST, 7 August) before games against Fiji (7.30am, 7 August) and USA (2.30am, 8 August).
Steve Stammers
olympics.com.au
