It was a true blue Aussie farewell for the Men’s and Women’s Sevens after the women moved into the Athletes’ Village in Rio de Janeiro.
The men are still in a training camp in Portobello, an hour south of Rio, but got together on the eve of the women’s departure for one final farewell.
“We actually had a little jam session on the beach last night with the boys,” Women’s speedster Ellia Green said.
“Henry Speight got the guitar out, and Friendy (Men’s coach Andy Friend) was busting out some tunes, you know, ‘True Blue’, singing all the Aussie songs.”
Not a bad place for a training run!! 🌴🌴🌞🏉@AUSOlympicTeam pic.twitter.com/vtG0UMeYGT
— ed Jenkins (@edjenkins86) July 30, 2016
The Men’s and Women’s Sevens are a close knit bunch, with both teams training together at their full-time base in Narrabeen, north of Sydney.
“It was really good and it was a great feeling but it was a great bonding session for the Men’s and Women’s team,” Green said.
“They waved us off, they are off to discover an island off Portobello but they waved us off and wished us luck, and it was high fives all round.”
While the Men will remain out of the hustle and bustle of Rio, the Women have all but wrapped up their preparations after a light week on the training track.
“We had some really good sessions, pretty much just fine tuning now as our sessions in Portobello were really sharp,” Green said.
The Women first face Columbia before a clash with Fiji on Day One, wrapping up their Pool A fixtures with a clash against USA on Day Two.
“We study them every single day,” Green said.
“We go through our powerpoints and all the strategies that we’re going to play against them, we go through them every day.
“That’s all part of our preparation and that just adds to our confidence.”
