Slowly but surely, Australia Sevens captain Charlotte Caslick is processing what happened on the final day of action at the Paris Olympics after their fourth-place finish.
The Australians went into the competition as one of the red-hot favourites alongside the Black Ferns Sevens following their SVNS Grand Final success.
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Sweeping wins in the first two days of competition had many expecting a return to the podium for the Commonwealth Games champions.
What would transpire would be an unbelievable series of events as the Australians looked set to return to the final after a 12-0 lead inside three minutes.
As they went on the attack before the break, a sudden shift of momentum Canada’s way saw the eventual silver medalists score 21 unanswered points to knock the Australians out of gold medal contention.
“It was devastating that everything went wrong in the last one and a half games of footy for our season but I feel like we’ve all probably processed it differently,” an honest Caslick told rugby.com.au and RugbyPass in Sydney.
“I’ve been talking to ‘Walshy’ around the process of getting over it. It’s taking time… I feel like I regress at times and get really down in the dumps about it and then I feel better.
“I feel like at the moment I’m in a good place, I’m ready to come back to training.”
The Australians were distraught after the result, left inconsolable on the field. The team that so many times had fought their way out of trouble on the world series were left to pick up the pieces ahead of the bronze medal match.
Caslick admits the emotion had got to the best of the side as a rattled Australian side was pipped after the siren by the USA to finish fourth.
From there, they were pipped after the siren by the USA to finish fourth, leaving captain Caslick and the squad to take in what had just happened.
“It was a really quick turnaround,” Caslick explained. “For the USA, the podium was their goal. If they weren’t in the gold medal match, getting a bronze for them still would’ve been what they were aiming for.
“For us, our goal was to win a gold medal or at least be in that gold medal match and I think the mindset for both the teams would have been completely different after that semi-final loss.
“It’s not an excuse. We still had opportunities to win that game and we didn’t but it was challenging and we tried our hardest. I don’t think anyone can doubt that the girls and I gave everything and at times we probably tried too hard and ultimately, that kind of let us down.”
Caslick and the Australians were once again left to process another heartbreaking Olympic defeat after their quarter-final elimination in Tokyo.
This one felt different though.
“Tokyo obviously sucked as well. We wanted to do better than that but I think in Tokyo if we got on the podium, we would have been happy. Our team was good but we weren’t great,” Caslick admits.
“This team is capable of so much and they are great and shown how great they are throughout the last couple of years.
“This one really hurt because we knew that we were capable of so much more and we expected more of ourselves. We just let ourselves down in a few key execution moments when it really mattered.
“It sucks that’s how we remember our season because there were so many good things about our season that came before that moment but it does overshadow it a little bit.”
The Australia Sevens side have proven hardships and setbacks can deliver their best work.
They took the Tokyo disappointment and turned it into a Triple Crown of success in 2021-22.
The profile of the squad means a large majority of their squad will be at their peak come Los Angeles, with the potential of a shift to 15s for next year’s World Cup floated by Caslick and others.
“I’m excited for the future and I think we’ve got such a great young squad that we’ve got so much to look forward to as well,” she reflects.
“It’s all part of sport, it’s why we love it.”
