The 12-woman U.S. rugby team was named Thursday for the second-ever Olympic women’s sevens tournament in Tokyo.
Rugby was re-added to the Olympic program in 2016 after a 92-year absence, but with a different discipline in sevens and, for the first time, including a women’s tournament.
The U.S. lost in the quarterfinals in Rio, then improved to rank second in the world in 2019 (when Alev Kelter, one of two returning Olympians with Lauren Doyle, led the World Series in points). The Americans dropped back to fifth in the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 World Series, which was dominated by New Zealand.
The U.S. Olympic men’s rugby roster has not been announced yet.
U.S. Olympic Women’s Rugby Roster
Kayla Canett-Oca
Lauren Doyle
Cheta Emba
Abby Gustaitis (Co-Captain)
Nicole Heavirland
Alev Kelter
Kristi Kirshe
Ilona Maher
Jordan Matyas
Ariana Ramsey
Naya Tapper
Kristen Thomas (Co-Captain)
LIST: Athletes qualified for U.S. Olympic team across all sports
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