Ruby Tui (centre) has charmed British audiences around the world. Photo / Photosport
Ruby Tui (centre) has charmed British audiences around the world. Photo / Photosport
New Zealand Olympic Sevens player Ruby Tui gave the world a taste of her sharp and hilarious personality during a highly entertaining interview with the BBC on Friday.
Jill Douglas was reporting on the sidelines for the BBC when Tui happened to walk past her following the Black Ferns' 33-0defeat of Russia. What then occurred may go down as one of the best interviews of the entire Olympics and has already racked up over 1.5 million views on Twitter alone.
Tui initially looked to be trying to figure out who she was talking to, before cheekily saying "BBC, better be clear!" and gratefully accepting Douglas' congratulations on victory along with a shout-out in Samoan to her family and supporters.
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Tui then gave props to a Russian team she said was much more fierce than the scoreline suggested and pushed her to her absolute limit as far as fitness was concerned.
"Russia - they are very cool people man, we get on with them, very lovely people, but on the field as I said before, they are bloody tough.
"They're a tough, tough team and, to be honest, they weren't at the last Olympics so this is huge for them, massive congratulations to Russia, thank you so much.
"I don't want to say the score made it look easy, but it was not easy - don't be fooled, that was not an easy game, lots of running, my GPS blew up, that's how hard it was so nah, lots of respect for Russia."
Douglas then asked a question that millions of Olympic viewers were also wondering - what was it like to play against a Great Britain side, after spending the past four years playing against its individual elements of England, Scotland and Wales?
Tui's response was a perfect mix of diplomacy, irony and humour.
"You know I love how GB [Great Britain] come together, like you know they all split up, but then for the Olympics, you're all friends.
"It's funny cause in the scrum, they probably hate me saying this, sorry Abbie, but when they go down, they go 'ENGLAND!' like they're real proud to be English.
"But they can't do it here, so Abbie's [Abbie Brown] gotta go 'GB!' when she goes down so you know, everyone comes together... I love the whole concept of GB and like I said, huge congratulations to Great Britain and all the people of that place because they fundraise, they worked hard, they campaigned, I think even a couple of us donated and they ended up at the Olympics so huge huge mahi."
Ruby Tui (centre) has charmed British audiences around the world. Photo / Photosport
Finally, Tui was asked to comment on the possible effects of playing amidst thunder storms and heavy rain and gave a typical tough Wellingtonian's response.
"What rain? Bring on the thunder, we're at the Olympics, let's be happy, let's compete safely and peacefully, peace and love, love you guys."
The Black Ferns will take on Fiji in the Olympic semifinals on Saturday afternoon at 2pm.
