The men’s national rugby 7s side, Shujaa, will be hoping to make history when they begin their campaign in the Paris 2024 Olympics on Wednesday afternoon at the Stade de France.
Having participated in two previous Olympic tournaments in Rio 2016 and the delayed Tokyo 2020 Games, Kenya is yet to win any group stage match (P6 L6).
But after a highly successful year that saw the team clinch the African crown and regain its place back in the World Rugby Sevens Series, confidence is high that the Kevin Wambua-currently coached side can overcome all odds to at least register their first group win.
To do that, they will have to overcome challenges from tricky opposition as they are grouped against SVNS league winners Argentina, Australia and Samoa in Pool B.
In other groups, hosts France and their superstar Antoine Dupont will start their Olympic campaign in Pool C together with two-time Olympic champions Fiji, USA and debutants Uruguay.
Pool A sees top seed New Zealand grouped with Ireland, Japan and South Africa who just qualified from the World Rugby Sevens Repechage in Monaco.
The men’s competition will take place on 24, 25 and 27 July, when the first team sport gold medal of the Games will be awarded to the men’s rugby sevens champions.
The competition format sees all teams play three pool matches with eight teams qualifying for the quarter-finals in the evening session of the second day of competition before the third day sees the semi-finals and the all-important medal matches as Olympic dreams are realized and broken.
Rugby sevens is expected to be one of the highlights of Paris 2024, following the resounding success of Rugby World Cup 2023 in France. All the action will take place at Stade de France, which was the venue for the opening match and final of Rugby World Cup 2023.
Fiji have famously won both men’s gold medals to date – Rio being their first ever Olympic medal – but five different nations have won the men’s SVNS Series since 2016, while Argentina were crowned SVNS 2024 league winners and France claimed the inaugural SVNS Grand Final title in Madrid last month, demonstrating the depth of competitiveness.
All six World Rugby regions are represented among the 24 teams who secured their spots in Paris via the HSBC SVNS Series, regional qualification competitions and the World Rugby Sevens Repechage.
There are three Olympic debutants with Uruguay and Samoa competing for the first time in the men’s competition.
