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Krissy Scurfield's bittersweet Olympics: ‘The most challenging time of my career’
By Joe Harvey
Krissy Scurfield admits that her Olympic experience was bittersweet.
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While the Loughborough Lightning wing left Paris with a silver medal in her luggage, Scurfield had to watch as her teammates almost went the distance from her hospital bed.
Record crowds watched on as the world’s best did battle at the Stade de France and players competed in their sport’s showpiece event.
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Coming into the game Scurfield had been in the form of her life.
Scoring 20 tries in 37 HSBC SVNS appearances last season, she had been a major influence for her nation as they finished fifth in the Series and fourth at the Grand Finals in Madrid.
As the world descended upon the French capital Scurfield was one of the players to look out for.
In Canada’s second game of the tournament, against eventual gold medal rivals New Zealand, her time on the pitch abruptly ended.
When the ball bounced towards her opponents, the Alberta native dived onto the ball to gain possession and in a split second saw her hopes of standing alongside her teammates on the podium dashed.
“I just got a knee directly into my side where my kidney is,” Scurfield explained.
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“I was so winded for 15 seconds. I thought I had broken my hip. I had never felt anything like that before. I thought if it was just a bone, I could play it off.
“It was pain. I could push through it. I played for another minute or two and then I got the ball, had the opportunity to go for a big run and just couldn’t run.”
As much as the former ice hockey player had hoped it was a bone injury, Scurfield soon found out it was not.
Some scans and blood tests later it became apparent that she had lacerated her kidney and was duly replaced by Taylor Perry in the squad.
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Due to the seriousness of her injury, the only way to stay close to the action was to watch French television from her hospital bed.
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“Being with the team injured is one thing, but when you are isolated in a hospital bed, you can’t see anyone, congratulate them or give them a hug, that is a completely different story,” she said.
“It was definitely the most challenging time of my career going through that. I am still going through it now.
“I don’t think I will get over going through something like that, but I can learn from it and see the good.”
Beating France in the quarterfinals, a medal was guaranteed when Canada shocked Australia with tries from Charity Williams, Asia Hogan-Rochester and Piper Logan in their semi-final.
Ahead of the gold medal match against the Black Ferns Sevens, senior figures Olivia Apps and Chloe Daniels held up Scurfield’s jersey in a touching tribute to their stricken teammate.
What followed was 14 minutes of high-octane action, with the Canadians leading at half-time before Michaela Blyde and Stacey Waaka’s second-half scores won New Zealand consecutive gold medals.
In a social media video posted by Scurfield, Hanratty explained he had demanded her medal at the ceremony and branded her as the “life and soul” of the squad.
But handing over the hardware to his player became a story of its own as the 21-year-old struggled to get released from hospital to attend an emotionally charged ceremony at Canada Olympic House.
“I was having a hard time getting released from the hospital, so that day would have been the last day for me to see the whole team,” Scurfield said.
“I was trying to figure out a way to see the whole team and make sure I could celebrate with them, even if I wasn’t fully healthy to be there.
“I went straight from the hospital in the Uber to Canada House and I was still late. I pushed the release to get out and went straight there.
“That was the first time I had left the hospital for a couple of days and to see everyone and all of our friends and family being so proud. That was a special moment.
“Just being able to look all my teammates in the eye for the first time after seeing them on screen, there was so much pride.
“I can’t even describe the feeling of how I felt when I saw them again and got to give them a hug.”
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Four months on from those days in the French capital and Scurfield is still processing her emotions.
Experiencing such a whirlwind in such a short space of time was an unexpected and unwanted challenge for the 21-year-old.
Now looking back, the pride that Scurfield has for the team she was an integral figure in, stands taller than anything else.
“The team did incredible,” she said. “There were outstanding performances all around and we just worked so hard to get to that point.
“There was nothing else but pride in that performance, however I didn’t get to play.
“But that is just the way of rugby, and you can’t expect to be healthy for every tournament.
“Definitely bittersweet, but nothing but pride for the team and the incredible performances from my teammates.”
Before stepping foot in France in the summer Scurfield’s next move had already been decided.
Signing with Premiership Women’s Rugby club Loughborough Lightning for the 2024/25 season, the 21-year-old has a new goal in sight.
With the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup in England less than a year away, the wing hopes to break into Kevin Rouet’s plans for the tournament and has already become one of the most exciting prospects in women’s rugby.
The national team has enjoyed a mesmeric year. Jumping up to second in World Rugby’s rankings, beating New Zealand and going blow for blow with England in WXV 1, it is expected that the Canucks will be serious contenders in less than a year’s time.
One of numerous Canadians to have flocked to the league to play in the world’s premiere women’s competition, Scurfield is hoping that time in England will increase her knowledge of the game after spending the start of her career focused on the nuances of sevens after being fast-tracked from the University of British Columbia.
“I would love to play in the Rugby World Cup,” Scurfield said. “It is a massive tournament with the best players in the world. Being amongst that would be an incredible experience.
“Our 15s side in Canada have been growing every year, and to be a part of that would be a dream come true.
“Getting as many 15s games as I can under my belt is the way to do that. That is a big reason I am here for sure.”
In just a handful of appearances, Scurfield has shown a glimpse of what she could bring.
This could no more be seen than in her second appearance for Lightning, when the flyer unleashed her pure speed against Exeter Chiefs and dot down in the 40-19 loss.
But even in that display of world-class talent the wing was remembering the words of her coaches.
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“The number one thing that Nathan [Smith] has been telling me is to stop running into people and running around them,” Scurfield laughed.
“In the Quins game, I had a couple of chances where I could have just pinned it straight into the corner and I didn’t.
“So, during that run, all I had to do was make the corner. I couldn’t run into people; I had to run around them. that was the only thing going through my head.”
Playing in a backline boasting the talents of Emily Scarratt, Helena Rowland, Helen Nelson and Olympic bronze medallist Alev Kelter, will certainly help Scurfield’s education.
In the club’s 36-24 win over local rivals Leicester Tigers, the 21-year-old displayed her progress, scoring a try and assisting the evergreen Scarratt in the bonus point win.
Should the wing hope to achieve her Rugby World Cup goal, she knows constant improvement is needed.
Even then after the roller coaster that was the Olympic Games, Scurfield is taking a philosophic approach to the process.
“My job is to be a finisher,” she said. “My biggest things are to make sure I am winning my one-on-ones, staying strong in defence and being that wall.
“I think I just need experience. To learn the rules. The strategy. Then making sure I am at the top of my game and working as hard as I can.
“There is not much else I can do other than work hard and do my best.
“It is not the end of the world if I don’t make that World Cup team. But it is definitely the number one thing on my mind right now.
“And it is competitive, so I have got to do my best. If that works out, that is great.”
