The Paris 2024 Olympic Games saw the sport of rugby sevens capture the imagination of new fans around the world. From Ilona Maher’s social sensation to Ireland women’s viral heroics, it finally had its Olympic moment.

Centre to it all was Team GB’s Ellie Kildunne. In her first-ever Olympic Games, the 24-year-old rejoined the sevens setup following a stellar 15s season with Harlequins and the England Red Roses.

While there, Kildunne gave Rugby World an exclusive look into what it’s like to live in the Olympic village, bump into Serena Williams and realise a dream in becoming an Olympian…

THE JOURNEY TO THE GAMES

Ellie Kildunne at the Eiffel Tower, Paris 2024 Olympic Games (Ellie Kildunne)

I was so close to being an Olympian in Tokyo and it was such a difficult decision to step away from sevens THE when I did. It remained an itch I needed to scratch. With the new England XVs coaching staff coming in, with John Mitchell as head coach, I thought if I’m going to ask about it then now is the time. I was prepared for the worst, so I didn’t get my hopes too high. And then I just was on a call with Mitch and told him how much it would mean to me to go to an Olympics. And he kind of just said, “Yeah, why not?”

To have that just lifted so much weight off my shoulders, because I thought it was going to be a really difficult conversation to have. I thought it was going to be back and forth, but he said he was never going to stand in the way of anyone wanting to follow their dreams. When I went back into the set-up with Meg Jones, the girls welcomed us with open arms. It was as if we’d never been away. They are a special group of girls. I honestly can’t explain how amazing they are, the culture they have created, all the things that they’ve been through, all the hard times.

For the actual selection, we were told we were going to get a phone call at seven o’clock in the evening. Seven o’clock passed. Worst. Case. Scenario. As much as this would mean everything to me, to be a dream come true, I just have to go back into 15s. Then the message came through that I’d made the team. I was fortunate to record the whole thing on one of my cameras. I called my mum. She started crying, I started crying. And it just hit me that I’m gonna be an Olympian.

REALISING THE DREAM

Team GB women’s rugby sevens team, Paris 2024 Olympic Games (Ellie Kildunne)

I’ve managed to explain what the feeling was like being an Olympian. So on the last day of the Olympics, I spent about two hours switching off my phone, and I just walked around the village. I’m in the village with all these athletes that have trained for four years to be an Olympian. Now, the past four years, I’ve not known that it’s been a possibility to be an Olympian. That doesn’t mean I haven’t wanted it, because I’ve always wanted it, but I hadn’t had those four years with it as a sole focus.

And it hasn’t really hit me yet because I’ve gone straight into camp with England again. Life is happening in moments and they are coming so quickly after each other. One minute, I’m Six Nations Player of the Championship. Next minute, I’m an Olympian. Next minute, we’re hopefully going to win WXV. Then it’s the Six Nations again, then a home World Cup. And these moments come so fast that you don’t always have time to sit and process what’s just happened. Becoming an Olympian is a moment that I will probably take time to process. Process running out for the first game, process getting my Olympic rings tattoo.

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In camp now, the girls are asking me how was it? I haven’t really found the words to describe exactly how
it was. I just keep saying it was insane. It’s yet to hit me.

THE OLYMPIC VILLAGE

Olympic Rings, Paris 2024 Olympic Games (Ellie Kildunne)

The Olympic Village is a special place. You know, you walk around and you’ve got all these blocks that are dedicated to different countries with everyone walking around in their nation’s kit. It was like being in a video game, that’s how I can best explain it!

It’s like you’ve got players in a game. You’re one character and then there’s other characters walking around, and then you bump into Serena Williams, and like, well, that’s another unlocked character. It is so surreal like that. You have all these amazing people with amazing stories just walking around, riding on the free bikes, having coffee, relaxing. You’d then see someone doing wheelies down the road.

Serena Williams, Paris 2024 Olympic Games (Ellie Kildunne)

It felt like I belonged there but at the same time, it felt like, wow, am I really here? As if Andy Murray is just sitting having a cup of tea next to me. It’s these small moments that you realise what you are doing is pretty special. We are elite athletes and we do all 100% belong here.

“Wow, am I really here? As if Andy Murray is sitting having a cup of tea next to me”

I was walking around one day and there were a few athletes sitting at the Fijian house. They were sitting around singing, playing guitar and having fun. I sat and watched them for ten minutes and they invited me over. Those are memories that will live with me forever. And another thing that was really cool is that everything was free. You went up to the snack bars, got an ice cream, and they said, “Okay, thank you. Bye.” And that was pretty cool. And I got a free Samsung flip phone which I’m calling my work phone. It felt like you’re in a completely different world.

OPENING CEREMONY

Team Ghana at the Opening Ceremony, Paris 2024 Olympic Games (Ellie Kildunne)

With the timing of the sevens event, we couldn’t be part of the opening ceremony on the River Seine but we were still involved in the village.

We went outside our house and we clapped the athletes off who were going to the ceremony. We also ended up clapping some of the smaller countries that were a few blocks down from us because they walked through as well, which was very special to do. Once they came through I was like, “I need to go get my camera.”

I ran off with one of the girls and when I say the heavens opened, as soon as we started going it was torrential rain. I grabbed one of those emergency ponchos and wrapped it around my camera because I wanted to get photos of everyone.

What was nice is that we got to glance at some of the amazing outfits that were on show. All these different cultures dress in a certain way, and we were able to see that, and that was really, really special to see that, because usually you see everyone in sports kit and you blend into one.

It was in their opening ceremony outfits that you realised there’s so many different countries here, with loads of different backgrounds and experiences. I managed to get some pictures of athletes from Ghana and Sri Lanka before the rain really started. They looked so good.

Our ceremony outfit was made by Ben Sherman, it wasn’t quite the same. Experiencing some of the different cultures that are at the Games was very special as well. I tried to get a few more photos but I got a message on my camera that I was getting a wet lens because of the rain, so I had to call it a day.

THE GAMES ITSELF

Stade de France, Paris 2024 Olympic Games (Ellie Kildunne)

We were the first game of the Olympics for women’s rugby sevens. We had already watched the men’s event and saw it was a sell-out. And I think being a female player, you are always conditioned to think that we’re not going to be able to do that, but, oh my, were we proved wrong. As we arrived at the ground to go for the warm-up, I caught a glimpse of the stadium through one of the tunnels. I could see there were a few people there but not a packed house. I thought, it’s the first game, whatever, it’ll get busier. We then didn’t see the pitch until we ran out for the game.

When you run out, it’s almost like Britain’s Got Talent, you don’t see the stadium until you’re on the pitch. When we ran out, and realised the stadium was packed, I couldn’t believe it. We all got to the middle of the pitch, looked at each other and giggled, because it was like, this is crazy.

“Experiencing some of the different cultures that are at the Games was very special”

Then it was quick, quick, right, okay, we go into this game now, focus. I’ve played in nearly-sold out stadiums with 15s and this felt different. In 15s, you have home and away, so it’s very, very loud at certain points. It’s loud in sevens but different. The crowd is made up of so many different groups of people together from different sports from different countries.

Fans at the rugby sevens, Paris 2024 Olympic Games (Ellie Kildunne)

It felt like a noise that was there all the time, so you could kind of hear everybody. I didn’t struggle communicating, whereas in the 15s sometimes it’s hard to hear the person next to you. Then every time I caught a breather, which isn’t often in sevens, I would look up at the crowd and it was a bit like, this is crazy. Normally, I love being able to spot my family in the crowd, but there were so many people there, you could never spot them. It was incredible but it was also tough. The USA game was absolutely heartbreaking, as we knew it took us out of being in a medal-winning position when you’ve worked so hard for it.

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We know we can beat America, yeah, but in sevens, anything can happen.Something that I’ve learned from this experience is the ability to bounce back in such a short amount of time. In 15s, if you lose the game, you’ve got a full week until the next one. In sevens, we had a night. We all came back to the village, sat in one of the girls’ rooms, had a cup of tea and just spoke. It wasn’t even about rugby. Then we were ready for the next day.

THE MOMENT & THE LEGACY

Team GB women’s rugby sevens team pitchside, Paris 2024 Olympic Games (Ellie Kildunne)

We are constantly reminded as female players that we are X amount of years behind the men’s game. That we are where the men were 20 years ago, whatever it may be. I don’t agree and I think this Olympics proved that.

Social media has put us into the spotlight. It is telling people’s stories and capturing imaginations around the world. Moments like when Erin King of Ireland lifted and held Emily Lane over her head and it went viral. Ilona Maher becoming one of the biggest names of the Olympics. We are now accessible to everyone in the world. It shows everybody what we can do as players, which is really, really exciting.

I think women’s rugby will have a massive moment going forward thanks to the Games and we can capture that in future events again, whether that be in WXV or a Six Nations or Premiership Women’s Rugby. It’s just going to be a roller coaster of lots of highs and I can’t wait to be a part of it. Right now, I can’t say what women’s rugby is going to look like in the future – but I know it’s going to be absolutely massive.

The Olympic diary of Ellie Kildunne featured in Issue 302 of Rugby World.

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