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'He was speaking more to the girls': When an Aussie 7s star met NBA royalty
The Tokyo Olympics will go down in history as the most unique celebration of sport, resilience and togetherness that the world has ever seen.
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After a couple of difficult years due to the Covid-19 pandemic – which saw the Games postponed for one year – the world came together as one in Tokyo.
These Games were able to honour the legacy and history of the event in the middle of a trying time for people all around the world.
For athletes, the 32nd Olympiad was also the finish line; an opportunity to finally realise childhood dreams after five years of training and sacrifice.
Australian Sevens ace Maurice Longbottom realised his Olympic dream in Tokyo.
While the speedsters journey to the Games was quite unique, after being told he was “too small” to play rugby league growing up, Longbottom is now an Olympian.
“It was a weird one due to Covid reasons, but once we got to the village, it was pretty much normal life,” Longbottom told RugbyPass.
“Everyone was hanging out with other people. We were playing cricket at the bottom of our building, we had a coffee machine there.
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“We were always trying to do something and interact with other athletes and we’re all there for one reason and that’s to compete.
“When we’re not competing, we can all hang out like a big family and have a bit of a laugh.
“That was an awesome experience, again devastated with the outcome but (it was) an experience I won’t forget.”
The world’s best athletes look to etch their names into sporting immortality with a gold medal at the Olympics every four years – or five in Tokyo’s case.
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But there are some people who carry a special aura about them; leaving other world class athletes in awe of their status and success.
Longbottom met two of Australia’s top athletes in Tokyo, as well as one of the greatest NBA players of the modern era.
“I met Patty Mills and I met Ash Barty, they were both at the top of their game at that time,” Longbottom added.
“I was also lucky enough to meet a couple of the USA basketball players, Kevin Durant and a few of the other boys came to the village so that was pretty awesome.
“(Durant) didn’t talk too much to be honest, he was speaking more to the girls than to the boys, he didn’t even smile in our photo.”
The Australian Men’s Sevens team fell short of a gold medal, as they were knocked out by Fiji in the quarter-finals.
While disappointing, the experience has kept Longbottom “hungry” for more.
When he signed his professional Rugby Sevens contract, Longbottom sat down and wrote down a few short and long-term goals.
As for his long-term goals, he’s already crossed some of them off: double Commonwealth Games appearance, and to go to two Rugby Sevens World Cups.
But there’s one more that eludes him – for now at least.
“Long-term goals, we had short-term goals that we wanted to tick off along the way. That was just keeping my mind hungry to go and achieve as much as I possibly could.
“Lucky enough for myself I was able to go off and tick all those small goals off, and then the long-term goals I’m still ticking off now.
“It’s been such a ride and I’ve loved every minute of it.
“Double Olympics, still yet to tick off. Just ticked off double Commonwealth Games and double World Cup. Those are two big ones for me.
“The double Olympics at the end, that’s my end goal. The second one on that would be top four this year so we automatically qualify for the Olympics.”
Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
10 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
10 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
10 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
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