UBC rugby stars celebrate silver medal

After the best Olympic performance in women’s rugby sevens in Canadian history, UBC Thunderbirds and Olympic medalists Flo Symonds and Piper Logan are reflecting on their journey to the Paris games and how incredible their run to a silver medal was.

Both Logan and Symonds are products of the UBC Thunderbirds women’s rugby program, while Symonds grew up in Vancouver and comes from a family of UBC rugby alumni. Both Olympic medalists credit most of their international success to their time as Thunderbirds.

“We’ve done so much together as a team and gone through so many ups and downs and we’ve overcome so many challenges, so being an Olympic silver medalist today is an amazing feeling and I’m so proud of the team and everyone who was involved,” Symonds said.

Logan said, “Playing rugby every day, training, and putting on some muscle and getting skills in, and that’s really where I saw my jump from a provincial player to international.”

Dean Murten, head coach of UBC’s women’s rugby team, spoke about how incredibly talented and skilled Logan and Symonds are on the pitch. Murten said they both bring their own unique skillset and hopes that this national recognition will inspire the next generation of athletes.

“I just think people around Canada will look at this and say, I want to do that and I want to be there,” he said. “I know in a couple of weeks’ time when these athletes are on the UBC field, there’s going to be people in awe of them and be like, I want to be like them.”

While donning a medal at the Olympics is a moment both Logan and Symonds won’t soon forget, the “welcome to the Olympics” moment for them was beating host country France in front of tens of thousands of hometown fans.

“Everything that I’ve done is for this game, this game against France, in this stadium,” Logan said. “I just took a second on the field. This is exactly what we train every day for, is this game.”

Logan and Symonds plan on returning to UBC to don the blue and gold for another season and continue their rugby careers.