USA Sevens coach Al Caravelli underlines what the Olympic decision means to rugby in the States.

Justin Boyd helped the USA to its most successful ever season last year

The sport of Sevens, and all of Rugby, has just been handed an incredible opportunity, and I share the excitement that my fellow coaches and players have in the aftermath of the Olympic vote.

As my colleague and friend Paul Treu, the South Africa Sevens coach, says: "Life will change as we know it today with the inclusion of rugby Sevens in the Olympics".

On the evening of 8 October I felt like a child waiting to open his presents on Christmas day.

I set my alarm for 05:15 for the Friday but didn't even need the alarm. I woke up five minutes before it went off, turned on my computer and started to watch the proceedings live online from Copenhagen.

I could not take my eyes off it and was glued to the monitor until the vote came through.

During the presentations, I knew for a fact that Rugby's was very impressive, professional and gave all the passion that our sport brings. I very much enjoyed the comments and questions from the IOC membership and my favourite came from two members who asked why our Olympic event was only planned for 12 teams!

I also liked IRB Chief Executive Mike Millar's answer: "We followed the guidance of the Executive members of the IOC, but if the IOC feels we should have more teams, we will add more."

I can see that for the benefit of the Olympics, we should have a minimum of 16 teams, and the fact that it's happening in Rio is an even bigger bonus. Only time will tell.

"Even after my car was towed, I was still smiling"

Later that day I went into New York City to celebrate with several rugby people, since this is a historic moment for everyone in the global rugby family.

Even after getting my car towed I was still smiling. Nothing could have got me down on that day, and very little has since.

Now that we are an official Olympic sport it will create several opportunities for rugby all across the world.

Last week I was in Argentina, the country my father and I played for, at a Sevens coaching course organized jointly by the IRB and the Pan American Sports Organization, sponsored by the Argentine Olympic Committee and the Argentina Rugby Union.

This was fully funded by PASO and the National Olympic Committees, there was only one representative per country and I was amazed when I saw 30 people in attendance.

The countries represented were Canada (Morgan Williams, new men's coach), USA (Sue Parker, current Women's Coach), Mexico, Bermuda, Bahamas, Trinidad & Tobago, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Dutch Antilles, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Paraguay, Colombia, Saint Vincent, Argentina (new coach, Nicolas Fernandez Lobbe) and Paraguay.

Pages: 1 · 2