Foley one step closer to Olympic dream

Since making his debut for the Australian Sevens side on the Gold Coast in 2011, Queenslander Con Foley has been striving for an Olympic berth. Yesterday that hard-work paid off with Foley and his teammates winning the Oceania Rugby Olympic Qualification tournament in Auckland.

Australia’s 50-nil win over Tonga in the cup final saw the team become the 10th nation to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympics. 

After missing automatic qualification in London earlier in 2015, Foley said he was relieved after six months of hard work in preparation for Auckland. 

“I think the feeling amongst the team is a sense of relief more than anything. It’s been a long wait since London where we just missed out on qualifying but we’d been building for the Auckland tournament and we’re all really happy to get the result,” Foley said. 

For Foley and a number of other players in the squad, who have been part of the program since it was first made official that Rugby Sevens would be part of the 2016 Olympics, qualification for the event is just reward after toiling away relentlessly on the International circuit. 

“To qualify for the Olympics really means a lot. It’s been a lot of hard work from when I first started with the team back in 2011 and we found out that Sevens would be part of the Olympics. 

“We had a setback missing out on qualification in London but we worked hard in the six months leading into Auckland and we’re all really pleased to have booked our ticket to Rio. 

Foley, who grew up in Brisbane playing junior Rugby for Souths and St.Joseph’s Gregary Terrace, said that it wasn’t until he was playing in the Queensland Premier Rugby competition for the University of Queensland that he began to take a real interest in Sevens.  

“I probably didn’t know a whole lot about Sevens as a junior player as it didn’t get as match attention as it does now. The game is starting to grow in popularity and is attracting a lot more coverage,” he said.  

“I’ve definitely noticed an increase in support of the sport. There is a lot of buzz around Sevens ahead of the Olympics and the tour has really taken off in terms of popularity. The Gold Coast tournament was great and with the event in Sydney in February this year, hopefully Sevens will continue to develop in Australia.” 

With Rugby Sevens now an Olympic event, Queensland Rugby Union has invested heavily into building a development pathway for the sport in Queensland that provides opportunities for boys and girls from around the state. 

There are now girls Sevens development squads based in regional centres throughout Queensland, and in partnership with the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS), there is also QAS Women’s Sevens squad based at Ballymore, which has produced a number of athletes now part of the National Women’s Sevens squad. 

“The junior and women’s Sevens programs have grown so much in Queensland in recent years and it’s really its own pathway now,” Foley added.