The 26-year-old has been described as “the best women’s rugby sevens player on the planet”, winning a historic gold medal in 2016 with the Australian team in the first ever Olympic rugby sevens contest. She’s going for the double.
Charlotte wears Asics tank, $60, race pants, $100, and Gel-Quantum trainers, $240; Gilbert Vector TR rugby ball (throughout), $29.99, Hair: Joel Phillips/Vivien’s Creative. Make-up: Lei Tai/Vivien’s Creative.
I’m living a childhood dream…
“Being an athlete is living a childhood dream to me. I grew up loving sport and now I get to do it as a full-time career. I’m just so blessed to be able to do that and to be a woman doing it as well. When I was young, I didn’t have female role models to look up to who were professional athletes, but now you see them at the top of their field in so many sports. I’m really proud that I’m at the forefront of that movement.”
Every single time that I put on the Australian jersey…
“I carry the expectation that I have to make my country proud. It doesn’t matter if it’s a World Rugby Sevens Series, an Oceania tournament or an Olympic Games, the jersey will always carry the same weight. I rise to the pressure and use it to my advantage. I focus on my role. My dad always told me, ‘control the controllable’, so that’s something I come back to, because in our sport, there are a lot of things that can be out of your control.”
Asics Future Tokyo Ventilate top, $70, Silver 4 inch shorts, $30, Lethal Tigreor IT FF 2 football boots, $240, and Pace Crew socks, $6. Hair: Joel Phillips/Vivien’s Creative. Make-up: Lei Tai/Vivien’s Creative.
When I’m out on the field…
“There are definitely times that I can hear the crowd and use them to build excitement and draw from their energy. At the last Olympics in Rio, our Australian supporters were amazing. It will definitely be different having no crowd [while we play] − if that’s what happens this year at Tokyo [because of the pandemic]. But we’re going there to do a job, and no matter what, we just want to go out there and do our best. We know that everyone will be watching the games on their TV screens, so we’ll be wanting to make them proud.”
To find what you love, it’s all about trying different things…
“My advice to young female athletes would be to do as many sports as you can while you’re young. I grew up doing a lot of athletics, cross-country, hockey and touch football. All of these sports led me to where I am and had a massive impact on my rugby career.”
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