Olympic champion Black Ferns rugby sevens team celebrated in Mount Maunganui

Portia Woodman-Wickliffe and family at the Black Ferns Sevens Olympic Celebration in Blake Park, Mount Maunganui. Photo / Kaitlyn Morrell

“Way heavier than a block of chocolate.”

That’s 11-year-old Amelia Soakai’s assessment after holding an Olympic gold medal.

Amelia was one of hundreds of Bay of Plenty rugby fans who flooded Mount Maunganui’s Blake Park on Wednesday evening to meet and celebrate the stars of the back-to-back Olympic-champion Black Ferns rugby sevens team.

The team, which has been based at Mount Maunganui’s University of Waikato Adams Centre for High Performance for about a decade, were back on home soil inspiring the next generations of sportswomen after successfully defending their 2021 Tokyo gold in Paris in July.

Blake Park hosted a celebration for back-to-back Olympic champions, the Black Ferns rugby sevens. Photo / Kaitlyn Morrell

Players soaking up the celebrations in Mount Maunganui included Portia Woodman-Wickliffe, Theresa Setefano and captain Sarah Hirini.

Woodman-Wickliffe, who retired from international rugby after the Olympics, said bringing this medal back was extra special.

“To be here in the Bay of Plenty, Tauranga, Mount Maunganui — this is home, this is our base for sevens.

“My daughter plays in the Arataki under-12s all-girls team and I have players from there that are here.

“Getting to share it with those girls who are potentially going to be in this team in the next six to eight years is amazing,” Woodman-Wickliffe said.

Amelia Soakai, 11, and Summer Tarawa, 11, ready to meet the Olympians. Photo / Kaitlyn Morrell

She has won three Olympic medals, two Commonwealth medals and two World Cups in her career with the Black Ferns Sevens, and was named the women’s sevens player of the decade in 2020.

Player Theresa Setefano was grinning ear to ear as she signed autographs, posed for pictures, and handed over her medal for all to see.

Amelia, 11, said “holding medals was the coolest part, they were really heavy”.

“They’re way heavier than a block of chocolate.”

Theresa Setefano with her Olympic gold medal. Photo / Kaitlyn Morrell

Setefano encouraged all young girls out there wanting to play rugby to give it a go.

Young girls she hoped to inspire included Summer Tarawa and Amelia.

Summer, 11, said the best part about meeting Olympians was getting to feel their medals and asking them how it feels to win.

Seven’s captain, Sarah Hirini – who played through facial fractures on her quest for Olympic gold – said she hoped young girls today could view rugby as a career path and also just give it a go.

“If you’re passionate about it and you want to give sevens a go, you can have the most amazing life.

“I think that’s probably what I love the most about it.

Sarah Hirini interacting with a proud crowd. Photo / Kaitlyn Morrell

“I get to hang with my best mates, I get to live here in the Bay of Plenty, I get to train for a living, I get free gear — like honestly, it blows my mind that that’s what I get to do for a living, and I get to experience it and share it with so many different people,” said Hirini.

Having trained at Blake Park in the lead-up to their Olympic campaign, all the players were grateful to come back and share their historic gold with the Bay of Plenty community.

Kaitlyn Morrell is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has lived in the region for several years and studied journalism at Massey University.