Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to amend when Team USA won the bronze medal.
PARIS (WOOD) — Alena Olsen was so overwhelmed with emotion that she could barely speak after she and the Team USA women’s rugby sevens crew pulled one out within the last two minutes to win the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics.
It was the first ever women’s rugby medal for Team USA.
“I don’t know what just happened,” a sobbing Olsen told Nexstar’s Jack Doles on the pitch sidelines after the 14-12 win on Tuesday. “It doesn’t seem real.”
“We knew we could do it, but, oh God, I’m sorry I have nothing! We just did it! That’s it,” Olsen continued. “Moment by moment, we took it and all our values shined through. We just defied the odds, I guess.”
Many of her teammates were in tears, too, including center Ilona Maher.
“In rugby, we say we’re just passing through the jersey and making the jersey better, and that’s always been my goal, is to make this jersey better — not just for me but for the other girls that are going to come through the program. And I want them to dream of being professional rugby players, professional athletes, so that’s what I feel like I’m giving them,” Maher said. “Even if this is my last rugby game, I hope that there’s space for them to grow and thrive and experience this, because I got to.”
Down 12-7 with 1:35 left to play, Team USA clinched the win over Australia when Alex Sedrick scored a game-winning goal on an amazing long run and then two-point conversion.
“I was screaming,” flyhalf/wing Steph Rovetti said of the game-winning play. “(Sedrick has) been so consistent for us, such a threat for us all year. And it just a perfect ending to the story.”
Olsen, a scrumhalf from Caledonia, said the team refused to give up until the clock had run out. She praised Sedrick, her roommate, for her amazing run.
“She (expletive) did it!” Olsen said, shouting with excitement.
“I never thought that I would get a bronze medal,” Olsen said. “The doubt that creeps into your head at every moment in a competition like this is so strong. And you don’t want to put yourself out there, but we put ourselves out there for a heartbreak and that’s the only way you can also get joy like this.”
“There’s no words to describe it,” a tearful Alev Kelter, a center, said. “Our values as a team are courage, selflessness, resilience, worth ethic and love, and I think you saw every ounce of that today.”
The U.S. finished in sixth place in the Tokyo Games.
“I did this for my family because they knew what I went through after that last Olympics and how broken I was after losing in the quarters,” Maher said. “They’re the ones who keep me grounded.”
Maher, who has a strong social media following, said she didn’t know what her next TikTok post would look like.
“I can’t think, but it’ll be good,” she promised.
