When Woodman-Wickliffe walked into the Olympic village in Rio, it was “definitely more” than she had imagined. “It was unforgettable; it was something I will carry with me forever,” she says.

Growing up in Kaikohe, the young girl admired the sprinters she saw on television, such as American Marion Jones, who won five medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics (she was scandalously stripped of her medals for using steroids).

“I remember watching her line up and run and then being named the fastest woman in the world and thinking, ‘She’s incredible,’” Woodman-Wickliffe says.

“So to be at an Olympics, to walk past Serena and Venus William and Rafael Nadal in the dining hall, then watch Michael Phelps walk back to his apartment with ease, it was incredible. You’re standing next to some of the best athletes in the world — it was more than I expected.”

Rugby sevens made a spectacular Olympic debut at those Games. The rugby pitch at the Deodoro Stadium, half an hour from central Rio, was built within a military zone with temporary scaffolding stands. It also hosted modern pentathlon during the Games.

“We visited the site a year ago and there was nothing there,” Woodman-Wickliffe says. “But they’ve created a wonderful space with outside food, drink and entertainment. The pitch is great too.”

On the field, however, expectations for Woodman-Wickliffe were very low.

One of the original Sevens Sisters, Woodman-Wickliffe was sidelined from a promising netball career in 2012 by the Go for Gold campaign, which aimed to find the right women to win the first sevens gold medal in Rio. Previously, Woodman-Wickliffe worked as a teaching assistant in a nursery and trained with her sevens team at both ends of the workday.

Although the team cruised through pool play in Rio (scoring 109 points and conceding just 12), the quarter-final against the USA was a hard-fought 5-0 win. “But there were unreal TV ratings for that game. And the crowd loved it,” Woodman-Wickliffe recalls.

After dominating Great Britain in the semi-finals, New Zealand women lost 24-17 to Australia in the final. It was little consolation, although Woodman-Wickliffe scored a try after the final whistle.

“Our disappointment was just that we weren’t living up to our potential,” he says. “That was the hardest part to deal with.”

No matter how inconsolable the women appeared on television, in time they were proud to win the silver medal.

“We were one of the first athletes to compete on the New Zealand team, along with Natalie Rooney, who won the silver medal, so we celebrated with her,” says Woodman-Wickliffe.

“Then when other athletes started to finish their events with or without medals, we realized how lucky we were to walk away with that silver medal. From that point on, it helped us celebrate, enjoy and make the most of those Olympics.”

Although she was used to travelling around the world with a team, for Woodman-Wickliffe being part of a larger team of 199 athletes was a highlight (it was also the first time New Zealand had more women than men represented at an Olympics).

“It was unreal, it was something completely different,” he says. “And to be the first New Zealand team to go to the Olympics for sevens was amazing.” But he left Rio feeling he had unfinished business.

So did Woodman-Wickliffe finally get to watch the Olympic 100m runners live? Sort of.

“In Rio, you could use your accreditation to get on the athlete bus and go to any event you wanted. So we got on the bus to watch Val Adams shoot,” he says. “We didn’t realise we were going to end up in the athletes’ warm-up area.

“And there was Usain Bolt warming up on the other side of the track. We were like, ‘We shouldn’t be here! The fastest man in the world is right there.’ It’s unreal, it’s unreal.

“Then we watched Val do what he did (to win the silver medal), which was incredible.”

Second Olympics – Tokyo 2020 (in 2021)

The process of preparing for the next Olympics was both painful and frustrating for Woodman-Wickliffe.

The player tore his Achilles tendon during training in late 2018 and injured his hamstring muscle during his return a year later.

She was sidelined for two years, then struggled mentally to trust her body again. And then Covid-19 postponed the Tokyo Olympics by a year.

“It was a bit anti-climactic,” he admits. “We had to wait five years to win the gold medal. Then we get to Tokyo Stadium (which can hold 50,000 fans) and there’s no one in the crowd. All our whānau are at home.

“But we were all thinking, ‘We have to win the gold medal, we have no other choice.'”

This time the Black Ferns Sevens were all professional athletes who lived and trained in Tauranga. The three-day women’s sevens tournament in Tokyo was played after the men’s competition, with the finals taking place on ‘Super Saturday’, one of the biggest days of the Olympics.

Great Britain and Fiji threatened to spoil New Zealand’s party – the talented Fijians powered them to an extra-time victory in the semi-finals, while the Sevens Sisters took their gold by beating France 26-12 in the final.

“We’ve finally achieved what we set out to do eight years ago,” Woodman-Wickliffe says. “When you think about other athletes who have been to three or four Olympics and won a medal, it doesn’t seem that long ago. I completely understand what other athletes are going through.

“But right then we said, ‘We finally did what we should have done five years ago; we did it.’ But then we said, ‘Damn, there’s no one around.’ It was all a bit weird.

“We weren’t allowed to have celebratory drinks in the locker room because they changed the rules. This wasn’t how we imagined winning the gold medal. And we had to leave Tokyo immediately.”

After spending two weeks in MIQ in her hometown, Woodman-Wickliffe went straight into another lockdown. “It wasn’t fair. I was trying to get back to my whānau to celebrate,” she says.

“It was definitely weird, but it made me appreciate the experiences we had in Rio and hopefully the ones we will have in Paris.”

Third Olympics – Paris 2024

Woodman-Wickliffe’s goal for her final Olympics is to celebrate with her family in the stands.

This will be his seven-part swan song. “And what a beautiful place to do it – Paris, France,” the 32-year-old legend says with a broad smile.

His wife Renee Woodman-Wickliffe, a world champion rugby 15s player, and daughter Kaia will also be there for the first time, while a group of her parents, whānau and friends will also be in the stands.

“It’s amazing the amount of people who have come out to be there, to support us and to show us love,” he says.

But Woodman-Wickliffe is likely to add to his world record of 256 tries before he calls time on his international rugby career at the end of the Olympic sevens tournament on July 31. But this time he faces a highly competitive field from 12 nations.

“The sevens world has definitely grown over the last 12 years. At our first Olympics, all but a few teams – us, Australia and the US – were still learning the sport,” he says.

“Tokyo wasn’t a true representation of how the sport has grown. In Paris, I hope everyone is competing for a place in the finals – Fiji, Canada, even China are coming. It’s not going to be easy matches.”

The tournament will be played at the Stade de France, the country’s largest stadium with a capacity of 80,000.

“I was lucky enough to go to the opening match of the men’s Rugby World Cup between France and the All Blacks. It’s a beautiful stadium where you feel really enclosed and close to the match. It’s going to be hot and it’s going to be loud.

“I imagine going to the Olympic village and it being spotless – the French have pulled out all the stops. There are flags from all the countries on the walkway and the Olympic rings; I think there will be some great gifts – something we always look forward to at the Olympics.

“Once we get in, the switch will be on; it’ll be like, ‘Yeah, we’re in the zone now.'”

This story was first published at: Newsroom.co.nz and is republished with permission.