Evania Pelite

Fast Facts

Sport: Rugby Sevens
Event: Women's Rugby Sevens
Olympic History: Rio 2016 (Gold), Tokyo 2020
Year Born: 1995
State Born: QLD

About Evania

Hailing from Brisbane, Evania Pelite developed her game as a member of the Queensland Schoolgirls side that won the National Schools Rugby Sevens Tournament on the Gold Coast in 2012. A year later she won gold at the Australian Olympic Youth Festival, where Rugby Sevens made its debut on the 17-sport program.

Evania made her Australian rugby sevens debut when she was 17-years-old at the World Rugby Sevens Series leg in Amsterdam in 2013. 

In 2016 she made history in Rio as a part of the gold-medal-winning women’s rugby sevens team in Rio. Evania's try in the Rio Olympics final gave Australia the lead, which they then held onto to secure gold over New Zealand 24-17. 

She went on to win silver on home soil at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. 

With the Covid disruptions to the international Sevens calendar, Evania linked with Sevens teammate Elia Green and played the 2020 NRLW season with the New Zealand Warriors, who were based in Australia due to the pandemic.

She scored three tries in three games, plus two try assists. The Warriors didn’t make the finals but Evania’s searing pace left its mark on the NRLW.

Off the field, Evania is an advocate for women in sport and has long been championing young girls to pick up a ball and expose the game to a wider audience

Pelite made her second Olympic appearance at the Tokyo 2020 games. With dominant victories over China and Japan Australia would book their spot in the quarter-finals of the tournament, set to face off against Fiji. They would fall short of consecutive medals in Rugby 7s losing a tense match to Fiji 14-12 and placing 5th overall at the tournament.