Nearly a century before Australia’s Women’s Sevens won Olympic gold, there was Daniel Carroll.
One of World Rugby’s newest Hall of Fame inductees, Carroll played in Australia’s 1908 gold medal winning rugby team, before going on to represent the USA in 1920, claiming a second gold as a player.
Carroll then coached the USA to another gold medal in Paris in 1924, the last time XVs rugby featured in the multi-sport event.
A member of Australia’s first team to tour the northern hemisphere, Carroll became a part of Australian rugby history, despite playing only two Tests for the Wallabies.
Then 20, Carroll crossed for two tries in Australia’s gold medal match, an achievement that remained as its only Olympic rugby medal until this year.
The Melbourne-born back played for Stanford University in America before going on to play three Tests for the USA and coaching the team.
He was believed to have been the youngest ever Wallaby but that has since been disputed, due to discrepancies between a birth certificate given to army officials and one held by the Australian Rugby Union.
And your final #RugbyHOF inductees are... pic.twitter.com/pIfwPyNbrg
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) November 14, 2016
Carroll was one of 12 inductees named at the opening of the World Rugby Hall of Fame in London earlier this week, which included Jonny Wilkinson, recently retired Irish international Brian O’Driscoll Welsh winger Shane Williams, and 2003 World Cup-winning English blindside flanker, Lawrence Dallaglio.
"The latest set of inductions includes some real legends, players who have helped to shape the image of rugby and inspire generations of fans," said World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont.
"They are truly some of the biggest names in our sport and all have contributed immensely to the enjoyment we have all felt watching top-level rugby over the decades,"
The 12 players were formally inducted during a ceremony that coincided with the opening of an actual Hall of Fame, open to the public in the English Midlands town after which the sport is named.
"While the Hall of Fame has been in existence for some years, it is exciting that finally it will have a permanent home and fitting that it should be in the town that gave our game its name, Rugby," said Beaumont.
In 1918 Carroll was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, America’s second highest military honour.
inductees
World Rugby Hall of Fame for 2016
Brian O'Driscoll - Ireland
Shane Williams - Wales
Jeremy Guscott - England
Lawrence Dallaglio - England
Heather Moyse - England
John Dawes - Wales
GPS Macpherson - Scotland
Arthur Gould - Wales
Jonny Wilkinson - England
Daniel Carroll - Australia
Daisuke Ohata - Japan
Maggie Alphonsi - England
