Emilee's Story
Emilee Cherry made history in Rio as a part of the gold-medal winning women’s rugby sevens team in Rio. The Australian side began the tournament with big wins over Colombia (53-0) and Fiji (36-0) before finishing level with USA (12-12) to top the group and move through to the quarter-finals. Victories over Spain (24-0) and Canada (17-5), in which Cherry scored a double, followed to set up a mouth-watering gold medal clash with New Zealand. The Aussies started quickly and eventually built a 19 point lead before the match finished 24-17 ensuring Australia claimed the first Olympic rugby sevens gold medal.
The victory capped off a massive 2016 for the team who also became the first Australian side to win the World Series. Cherry played in all five tournaments as the Australian side finished with three wins, a second and a third to convincingly win the title. She finished second in the competition in both tries (19) and points (134).
Having started out in touch football, Cherry has developed into one of the superstars of the sport. She made her sevens debut in 2012, was named 2014 World Sevens Player of the Year and was one of the side’s best in the 2015-16 season.
