Rugby sevens at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo took place from 26 July to 31 July 2021 at the Tokyo Stadium. 24 teams (12 each for men and women) competed in the tournament.[1][2][3][4][5] The dates were modified due to the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 games as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Competition
The men's and women's rugby sevens competitions took place at Tokyo Stadium, a 2019 Rugby World Cup host venue. The men's sessions took place July 26–28 with the women's sessions happening July 29–31, 2021.
Changes
In a reverse to the 2016 schedule, the men's competition was played first over three days from July 27–29 with the women's competition taking place from July 30 through August 1 and culminating with the gold medal session.
There were two sessions on each competition day. The morning session kicked-off at 9 AM JST and ran until midday JST and the evening session began at 4:30 PM and finished at 7 PM. The medal matches took place in the evening sessions.[6]
^ abGreat Britain earned qualification through England's placement as they were nominated as the country to earn qualification for Great Britain. However, they will be able to select players from Scotland and Wales.
^The Irish rugby union teams represent the entire island of Ireland, and when representing the IRFU fly the four provinces flag of the IRFU as Ireland. In the Olympic Games, however, they represent the Olympic Council of Ireland, and therefore play under the national flag of (the Republic of) Ireland. Northern Ireland players are, however, eligible to represent the team regardless of flag (according to the Good Friday Agreement, people who are born in Northern Ireland with Irish or British lineage can automatically obtain the nationality of (the Republic of) Ireland).
^ abWith both the United States and Canada advancing to the tournament through securing top four slots in the 2018–19 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, the spot for the RAN champions was re-allocated to the Final Olympic Qualification Tournament, which will now see two teams qualify for the Olympic Games.
^South Africa won the qualifying tournament but declined their spot due to a policy against accepting spots from continental tournaments. Kenya, as runners-up, qualified instead.[7]
Updated to match(es) played on 26 July 2021. Source: Tokyo 2020 and World Rugby Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head result; 3) Point difference; 4) Points scored.
