RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Ben Ryan took his gold-medal favorite Fiji men's squad along to watch the women's rugby sevens quarterfinals, hoping their presence would inspire another Fijian team to win a race for the Pacific island nation's first Olympic medal.
It wasn't to be, with the Fijian women losing to Britain on Sunday night and leaving it to coach Ryan and his sevens world series champions to make history in Rio de Janeiro.
Fiji has competed at the Olympics since 1956 but never won a medal, although they've never had a chance to compete in the national sport at the Summer Games.