Fiji: Fact file

Form guide

Fiji's men and women showed flashes of brilliance but struggled to maintain consistency throughout the regular SVNS season, both finishing in sixth place after seven rounds. However, better was to come at the season's Grand Final in Madrid, Fiji's men beating arch rivals New Zealand twice over the weekend to take bronze, equalling their best result of the season. Fiji's women lost their first five matches in Madrid against strong opposition, but finished with a morale-boosting 42-7 win against Great Britain.

Star dust

Sevens commentator and reporter Rob Vickerman says: "The brilliant Jerry Tuwai has been brought back into the national sevens fold after a noted absence. The only two-time gold medal-winning player has teamed up with his 2016 captain-turned-coach Osea Kolinisau in a bid for more Olympic glory.

"For Fijiana, look no further than Ana Maria Naimasi, who wears the famous number 6 and plays with a style and vigour to match: look out for a dangerous offloading game and brutal defensive intent."

Road to Paris 2024

Fiji's men qualified for Paris 2024 courtesy of a top-four finish in the World Rugby Sevens Series 2023. The women's team, meanwhile, finished victorious in regional competition, winning the Oceania Rugby Sevens Championship 2023 in Brisbane with a convincing 54-0 win against Papua New Guinea.

Previous Olympics

Fiji's men are unbeaten in Olympic competition, having won gold at both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 (played in 2021). In Rio they beat Great Britain 43-7 to capture their country's first Olympic medal and five years later they overcame New Zealand 27-12.  

Fiji's women provided one of the shocks of the Tokyo 2020 Games when they defeated defending champions Australia in the quarter-finals before going on to claim the bronze medal by beating Great Britain 21-12. In 2016, they had lost to the same opponents in the quarter-finals.