An Australian rugby participant has lastly received a medal on the Olympic Video games – nicely, kind of.
Grae Morris offered some cheer for Aussie followers on Saturday when he claimed silver within the males’s windsurfing on the Paris Olympics.
Within the course of, the 20-year-old grew to become the primary Australian man to win an Olympic medal in windsurfing – the truth is, he was the primary Aussie bloke to compete within the sport on the Olympics in over 20 years.
What makes Morris’s achievement much more spectacular is that, up till just a few years in the past, he harboured severe ambitions of changing into knowledgeable rugby participant.
Morris performed rugby all through his highschool profession at Sydney’s Cranbrook Faculty and featured of their First XV when he was in Yr 12.
Cranbrook performs within the prestigious CAS competitors, and simply a few years earlier the First XV had featured Josh Kemeny, the bullocking flanker who went on to play for the Wallabies eventually yr’s Rugby World Cup.
Born in Sydney to Kiwi dad and mom, Morris was an enormous All Blacks fan.
“In all my photographs I’ve as a child I’m sporting an All Blacks jersey… I at all times wished to play for the All Blacks,” Morris informed 9.com.au earlier this yr.
Nevertheless Morris did have a back-up plan if his rugby goals didn’t pan out. That back-up was windsurfing.
His father Brett is a former nationwide champion and was president of the Australian Windsurfing Affiliation for 12 years, so earlier than Grae might even stroll he was accompanying his dad to competitions everywhere in the nation.
He began competing within the sport critically earlier than he was a teen, and mixed his windsurfing pursuits together with his ardour for rugby all through highschool.
However after finishing Yr 12, the Cranbrook graduate had a life-altering determination to make: proceed making an attempt to make it massive in rugby, the place he presumably would have needed to attempt work his method up by the grades in Sydney’s membership rugby scene, or go all-in on windsurfing, a sport wherein he had received a nationwide championship and had already educated with and competed in opposition to Olympic-level athletes.
In the long run, he selected “a path that solely rewards success” – and that meant windsurfing.
“For each rugby and windsurfing I used to be in a scenario the place I could possibly be so much higher if I simply targeted on one, and my determination went to windsurfing,” Morris informed 9.
Quick ahead a few years and that call has already paid dividends, with Morris selecting up silver after ending simply behind Israel’s Tom Reuveny in a tense remaining at Marseille Marina on Saturday.
The Australian was assured a medal after qualifying for the three-person remaining, and for the primary half of the race it seemed like he would possibly win gold, holding the lead for a while in high-wind circumstances.
Reuveny was too robust in the long run, however Morris was nonetheless understandably happy together with his efforts, which bode nicely for his gold medal hopes on the LA Video games in 4 years time in a sport the place athletes can compete nicely into their 30s.
Whereas rugby in the end missed out on Morris’s skills being examined past schoolboy stage, it’s clear the passionate rugby fan nonetheless attracts on his expertise within the recreation they play in heaven whereas he’s out on the water.
“The self-discipline and work ethic instilled by rugby continues to form my coaching pursuits,” Morris stated earlier than the Video games started.
“Rugby was at all times essential for making me see how a crew can push in the direction of a win. In rugby when you’re making an attempt to work as a person … your crew has no probability of profitable and also you received’t be there for that lengthy.
“Rugby undoubtedly helped kick-start this Olympic profession.”
