Hong Kong Sevens showed how rugby ‘empowers women like no other sport’, ex-USA skipper Abby Gustaitis says
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- Olympic inclusion has put ‘huge focus’ on growing sevens in United States, with 2028 LA Games a major draw for teenage girls, she adds
Former USA captain Abby Gustaitis said rugby empowers women to a degree “unmatched in other sports” after she marvelled at the latest evidence of it at the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens.
Attending as an HSBC ambassador, Gustaitis praised the city’s showpiece event for its part in promoting equality by including a full women’s world series event for a second year running.
The 32-year-old, who co-captained her country’s sevens team to the quarter-finals of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, and was a 2017 Rugby World Cup semi-finalist, contrasts that equal treatment with her experiences elsewhere. She was a high-school basketball star before joining the United States’ national rugby programme in 2015.
“Having the same size pitch, and the same rules as the men, along with the feeling of complete parity, drew me to rugby,” Gustaitis said.
“I grew up playing basketball, and the three-point line for women was closer than in the men’s game. It was so frustrating, I always felt, ‘Do [administrators] not think I am capable?’
“I came into rugby and immediately appreciated the full-contact aspect of the sport, and the ability to take ownership of what we were doing. It felt like, ‘Anything [men] can do, I can do, too.’”
