CHULA VISTA, Calif. — Momentum is a funny thing in sports. It can crystallize seemingly out of nowhere and vanish just as easily.
The American men’s and women’s rugby sevens teams know about that. Both squads turned lackluster performances at the 2018 World Cup into fabulous 2019 campaigns, finishing second in the world, their highest rankings ever. They hoped that success would catapult them into medal contention at the Tokyo Games in 2020.
The pandemic forced the teams to slam on the brakes. After more than a year with only a handful of matches during the pandemic, they will try to regain their magic at the Olympics on Monday, the first day of the rugby sevens tournament.