A Tseshaht First Nation woman is among a group of rugby players that made history at the Paris Olympics.
Shalaya Valenzuela is a member of the Canadian women’s rugby sevens club that captured the silver medal at the Games on Tuesday.
The second-place finish marked Canada’s best Olympic result in the sport. Canada had earned a bronze medal at the 2016 Games in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janiero. That marked the first time the sport was introduced into Olympic competition.
As for this year’s Games, Canada was downed 19-12 by New Zealand in the gold-medal match.
“We wanted a medal, of course gold ideally,” Valenzuela said. “But silver is great.”
It would have been considered an upset if Canada had managed to emerge from the championship contest with a victory. That’s because New Zealand is the top-ranked club in the world in women’s rugby.
New Zealand had convincingly beat Canada 33-7 in a round-robin match earlier in the Games. While that was Canada’s lone setback heading into the final, New Zealand managed to win all of its games in Paris. New Zealand had also won the gold medal at the last Olympics, held in Tokyo in 2021. Those Games had been delayed one year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rugby sevens is just what its name implies. It is a version of the sport where both clubs have seven participating players on the field.
That differs from traditional rugby which features 15 players per side. With considerably fewer players on the field, speed is definitely an asset for players in rugby sevens since they are still competing on a full-sized field.
Valenzuela, who is 25, did not actually get any playing time with the Canadian club in Paris. But she was just happy to be part of the entire Olympic experience.
She was not one of the 12 players named to Canada’s Paris-bound roster when the team was announced on July 10. Valenzuela, however, was added to the squad as a reserve player mere days before the Games began in Paris on July 26.
Valenzuela was able to participate in all of the team activities in France. And like all of her other teammates, she too was awarded a shiny silver medal following the championship match.
“I was happy to be here with my team anyways and glad to step up when needed,” she said.
No doubt it was a whirlwind of emotions the past few weeks for Valenzuela.
First there was the disappointment of not being named to the Canadian squad. Then joining the club days ahead of the start of the Olympics. And then capping it off with a medal from the world’s most prestigious multi-sport event.
The Canadians were not considered a serious medal contender heading into the Paris Olympics. The team had started the 2024 season as the ninth-ranked in the world.
But Canada’s hopes of garnering some hardware at the Games were considerably boosted after upsetting host France 19-14 in a quarter-final contest that was held on Monday. That triumph guaranteed that the Canadian team would be involved in a medal game.
And then on Tuesday morning Canada was assured of at least a second-place finish when it defeated Australia 21-12 in its semi-final battle.
“It feels surreal but we all worked hard to get here,” Valenzuela said.
She also had some praise for all of the participating women’s rugby clubs at the Games.
“All teams deserve applause,” she said.
Valenzuela said that she did not attend the Games’ opening ceremony on July 26. And neither did her teammates.
“Too hard on our feet,” she said of the prospect of the standing around, and no doubt the celebrating she would have done had she attended the ceremony.
Valenzuela added she will not attend the Games’ closing ceremony either.
Valenzuela said she is not quite sure what her immediate future holds. She was contemplating whether to remain in Europe and do some travelling.
One thing that is certain, however, is that Valenzuela plans to continue playing the sport.
“I will continue with rugby,” she said. “It’s part of me.”
