Michaela Brake: 'I realised I didn’t need to quit sevens'

Little Harvey Brake is years away from understanding exactly how he’s influenced the course of sevens rugby history but he’s already shown he’s inherited the family trait of impeccable timing.

Born eight weeks ago to two Olympic gold medal winning parents, Harvey is thriving and appears to be living his best life, which means his Mum can do the same.

Michaela Brake has confirmed she’ll return to the Black Ferns Sevens next season and is eyeing a third Olympic gold in Los Angeles 2028. Prior to Harvey’s birth, indeed before he was even a twinkle in her eye, that was far from a given. She thought she was done with the sport.

“After Paris I thought that it couldn’t get any better than that and having been with sevens for so long I needed something new, hence going to the Warriors and rugby league,” Brake said.

“But before that, playing a handful of sevens tournaments in 2025 made me realise how much I love the environment, the culture, the game, representing my country. I realised I didn’t need to quit sevens, I needed to rejuvenate and just really remind myself why I love the sport.”

While having a baby was part of the conversation at the time, Brake says discovering she was pregnant was still a “beautiful surprise” and it reaffirmed her desire to make a return to high performance rugby.

Harvey was born by caesarean in late March, allowing Brake a full maternity period and a return to training when the team goes back into pre-season in August.

“With the girls having two more tournaments to go this season everyone is occupied and busy so it means I have that extra time to get my body back in a place where I feel strong again,” she said.

“The first goal that I have is to be into pre-season and not be a managed athlete, I want to be back into it in August and be participating in everything. The only area where we’ll be more cautious is around contact training as I won’t have had any for a year.”

There’s been something of a baby boom at the New Zealand Sevens base. Sarah Hirini and Shiray Kaka are new mums while Dhys Faleafaga and Theresa Setefano are pregnant; team manager Jess Jones has also welcomed a baby boy in recent months.

It reflects the changing face of the game and the work being done behind the scenes to support female athletes and indeed staff members to get back on the field or back to work if they desire. Players can bring a support person on tour up until their baby turns one.

“It just comes to show that we’re able to come back because we’re supported at this time, it’s not about, oh, you’re pregnant, okay, we can’t contract you again or anything like that,” Brake said.

“Straight away when I spoke to my agent and Cory [Sweeney, New Zealand Sevens women head coach] about being pregnant, it was, ‘okay, let’s figure out a process to get you back safely’. So yeah, massive, massive support and that just gives us the confidence that we can take this next chapter in our life while being contracted rugby players.”

As the all-time leading try scorer in women’s sevens with two Olympic gold medals Brake has no unfinished business and nothing to prove, but will return with a new set of new goals.

“The next goal after getting back in pre-season is to be selected for Dubai and Cape Town. It will be a massive, massive challenge, but I’m one of those really crazy, psycho, stubborn people that will do anything in my power to make that happen – if I’ve got that goal in front of me, I will make sure it happens.”

She currently sits eight points behind former teammate Tyla King as the HSBC SVNS Series all-time leading point scorer and is 26 tries ahead of Maddi Levi at the top of the try-scoring list. She says she’d be lying if she hasn’t been a little fired up at times this this season watching Levi rapidly moving towards her record.

“Watching the tournaments while I was pregnant, every time she scored, I was like, ‘damn it!’, so deep down, yeah, there is that little bit of fire. But mad respect to Maddi, you can’t help but just respect how she is as an athlete, she’s amazing.”

Brake is grateful for the village that will help her be able to make this happen. While she says it’s “highly unlikely” husband Michael will make his own sporting comeback for them to make it a family double in LA – he’s a Tokyo Olympic rowing gold medalist and if you want more evidence of the Brake’s impeccable timing check out the final of the men’s eight – the amount of people backing her means there are few doubts she’s making the right decision.

Always super competitive and confident in her abilities, it sounds as if Brake, somewhat ominously for her rivals, is even more determined than ever. Asked if she’s nervous about returning to the top level of the game, Brake is fairly certain, but not complacent, about her ability to get back to her best.

“I love turning that doubt into proving myself and I’m definitely someone who’s just extremely motivated to wear the black jersey.”

Brake feels like things are falling into place well for both her and Harvey as she prepares for comeback season.

“I’m in a perfect place where I’ve just been given this awesome opportunity to come back as a mum and have that support by the rugby union, by the Black Fern Sevens, by my family, where I can take Harvey to training and on tour, so yeah there’s maybe a little bit of doubt, but knowing that there is so much support, there’s no reason why I can’t do it.”