<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Prestwick @ Oct 13 2009, 05:17 AM)
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<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (An Tarbh @ Oct 10 2009, 09:36 PM)
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I don't think any of the established nations would give up on 15s. I'd also wonder how seriously some of the big countries will take the Olympics especially when we're talking about a tournament taking place in the NH off-season.[/b]
Probably as seriously as they take the whole Sevens series
period I suppose. To be honest, when was the last time that you saw established nations rushing star players away from the 15s game to some Sevens Tournament in Hong Kong or San Francisco?
Sevens belongs in the Olympics as much as Golf does. If they can fit in Golf then they can fit in a fast paced and highly exciting sport which has already made itself a major part of the Commonwealth Games. I think it belongs in the Olympic family and the only question is why did it take so long?
People will logically make the distinction between 15s and 7s, almost to the point that they are desperate sports altogether. So, I'd probably say that the RWC and Olympics will not overshadow the other. People will be equally ecstatic to see their team lift the Webb Ellis trophy and grab gold for 7s.
And the best thing is that now that it is an Olympic sport, national sporting bodies can now/will now have to release funds for development of 7s rugby. For example, China actually has a very good Rugby system within the Peoples Liberation Army. Who holds the records at the Hong Kong 7s for points and tries? Zhang Zhiqiang.
But beyond the PLA, they can't get funding for the sport as it is outside of Military circles still a fledgling sport. Olympic sport status solves that problem. It has now changed everything.
The Rugby World is completely different after last Friday because now Rugby is now recognised as a sport played across the world and not just one which is the preserve of ten or eleven nations in the UK and Commonwealth.
That is why it fully deserves to be in the Olympics.
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Good call. I know Rugbys perception in some countries is pretty negative. It's like the attitude "well if we're not the best country at it, and there is no major reward for competing in it, why bother when we all ready have sports we are the best in" That was, without trying to be a dick, many American's perspectives I have talked to, but now a gold medal is avalible, especially with some countries competing so highly for the most gold medals, it should be highly competed for in the Olympics, as a gold medal in Rugby VII's is worth the same as a medal in any other sport.
