Day 3 at the Olympic Games: France Wins Gold, Fiji Silver and South Africa Bronze

via World Rugby

France beat Fiji 28-7 to win Olympic Games Paris 2024 men’s rugby sevens gold, while South Africa overcome Australia to secure bronze in front of 69,000 fervent fans at Stade de France

Rugby Sevens has ignited the Olympic Games Paris 2024 with a record breaking 550,000 fans creating an incredible atmosphere across six days of competition

The three-day women’s competition kicks off at 15:30 (GMT+2) on Sunday, culminating in the finals on Tuesday 30 July

At the end of three scintillating days of Olympic men’s rugby sevens action, played out in front of captivated, capacity crowds of 69,000 at the iconic Stade de France, it was hosts France who took Paris 2024 gold amid euphoric scenes of celebration.

A sensational Antoine Dupont scored twice and set up another as he inspired France to claim the first team gold medal of the Paris Games with a 28-7 defeat of Fiji in the final.

Beating the two-time defending champions, who had never before lost a game of Olympic rugby sevens, the host nation dominated the second half as they scored three unanswered tries to claim their place on top of the podium.

Dupont entered the fray after the break and made an immediate impact, setting up a score for Aaron Grandidier Nkanang to nudge France ahead before scoring a brace of his own to secure gold and consign Fiji to silver.

South Africa joined France and Fiji on the podium, beating Australia 26-19 in a thrilling bronze medal match to repeat their finish at Rio 2016. South Africa were the last team to qualify for the 2024 Games, making their journey to the podium in Paris all the more impressive.

France reached the final with a 19-5 win over South Africa in the semi-final while Rio and Tokyo gold medallists Fiji turned on the style to beat Australia 31-7 to reach their third consecutive gold medal match.

New Zealand, Argentina, Kenya and Uruguay all ended their Olympic campaigns with wins in their respective play-offs. Uruguay claimed 11th spot with a 21-10 win over Japan, Kenya edged ninth place with a 10-5 victory over Samoa, Argentina clinched seventh as they cruised to a 19-0 win over the USA, and New Zealand beat Ireland 17-7 in the fifth place play-off.

The final was attended by French President Emmanuel Macron, Fiji President Wiliame Katonivere and IOC President Thomas Bach among a host of other dignitaries and famous fames inside Stade de France to witness the epic encounter between the SVNS 2024 champions France, and double Olympic champions Fiji who had never lost an Olympic match.

The gold medal match was refereed by Australia’s Jordan Way, while Jérémy Rozier from France took charge of the bronze medal match.

World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont Beaumont hailed ‘perfect’ Paris as men’s rugby sevens enjoys golden moment with record crowds, huge audiences and spectacular sevens. Rugby’s energetic Olympic format has come of age, and World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont believes that Paris has been ‘perfect’ hosts with more to come.

The women’s teams takes centre stage on Sunday as the three-day competition gets under way at 15:30 local time (GMT+2) with pool phase matches followed by quarter-finals on Monday evening and finals day on Tuesday 30 July to bring down the curtain on a spectacular Olympic rugby sevens event.