An American Sochi silver medalist, Elana Meyers, will return to the US Olympic Training Centre (OTC) in Chula Vista, California to target a place at the 2016 Rio summer Games. Meyers was named on Friday in an 18-woman USA rugby sevens training squad.
Meyers, who took silver in the women’s bobsleigh with the summer and winter medallist Lauryn Williams, was approached by coach Ric Suggitt before she travelled to Russia. Already a double Olympic medallist, having taken bobsleigh bronze in Vancouver in 2010, she will initially attend the OTC as a rugby player on a one-month contract. Rugby sevens will make its Olympic debut in Rio.
“Elana and her fiancé Nic [Taylor] were training for the Olympic bobsleigh team,” said Suggitt, “and they were in Chula Vista. So we’d seen them and talked a little bit. They came down to practice and watched and Elana threw a ball around with a couple of players and said she was interested.
“So I said, ‘You’ve got some bigger fish to fry right now. You go concentrate on winning a medal at the Olympics and once that’s done I’ll hold a spot for you and we’ll give it a one-month trial to see how you do.”
Another multi-sport athlete, the junior ice hockey and soccer international Leyla Kelter, was also named in the women’s squad.
Suggitt continued: “With Elana we see the same thing [as with Kelter]: we’ve seen her train and she’s got a good attitude. She’s demonstrated that around the Olympic Training Centre every time I saw her. Obviously we know she’s determined and a good athlete.
“Whatever she puts her mind to she can do, so I think if everything goes the way it’s gone for her in the past we’ll see her around for a long time.”
Revisions and additions to the men’s OTC sevens squad were also announced on Friday. Carlin Isles, the former college footballer and national-level sprinter who has become known as the fastest rugby player in the world, has left the centre to join the Glasgow Warriors in Scotland – subject to his gaining a visa. He will still be available to coach Matt Hawkins as the HSBC World Sevens Series continues.
Hawkins has recalled another crossover athlete, Thretton Palamo. Capped by the Eagles’ 15-a-side team at the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France, he subsequently played football as a defensive end for the University of Utah.
“Thretton obviously has put on a little more weight to be bigger and stronger for football,” said Hawkins, “so that’s one of the things we’ll have to manage – to get him back to where he needs to be.”
