PELITE Evania

Australia

Rugby Sevens

Date of Birth: 12 Jul 1995

Age: 26

Gender: Female

Height (m/ft): 1.69/5'6''

Place of birth: BRISBANE, QLD

Birth Country:

Australia

Place of residence : SYDNEY, NSW

Residence Country:

Australia

Events and Medals
Records
Schedule
Bio
General Interest
Milestones

Events and Medals

Discipline	Event	Rank	Medal
Rugby Sevens	Women AUS Australia	5

Schedule

Change

Location	Event	Status
Tokyo Stadium	Women's Pool C #W04 AUS Australia 48 JPN Japan 0	Finished
Tokyo Stadium	Women's Pool C #W09 AUS Australia 26 CHN China 10	Finished
Tokyo Stadium	Women's Pool C #W16 AUS Australia 12 USA United States 14	Finished
Tokyo Stadium	Women's Quarter-final #W22 FIJ Fiji 14 AUS Australia 12	Finished
Tokyo Stadium	Women's Placing 5-8 #W25 ROC ROC 7 AUS Australia 35	Finished
Tokyo Stadium	Women's Placing 5-6 #W32 AUS Australia 17 USA United States 7	Finished

Biographical Information

Highlights

Athlete:

Olympic Games

Rank	Event	Year	Location
1	Women	2016	Rio de Janeiro, BRA

Rugby World Cup Sevens

Rank	Event	Year	Location
3	Women	2018	San Francisco, CA, USA

World Rugby Sevens Series

Rank	Event	Year
1	Women	2018
2	Women	2020
2	Women	2016/2017
4	Women	2019

World Rugby Sevens Series - Australia

Rank	Event	Year	Location
1	Women	2018	Sydney, NSW, AUS
2	Women	2019	Sydney, NSW, AUS
4	Women	2017	Sydney, NSW, AUS

World Rugby Sevens Series - Canada

Rank	Event	Year	Location
2	Women	2019	Langford, BC, CAN
2	Women	2018	Langford, BC, CAN

World Rugby Sevens Series - Dubai

Rank	Event	Year	Location
1	Women	2017	Dubai, UAE
3	Women	2018	Dubai, UAE
4	Women	2019	Glendale, CO, USA

World Rugby Sevens Series - France

Rank	Event	Year	Location
2	Women	2018	Paris, FRA
2	Women	2017	Clermont-Ferrand, FRA
5	Women	2019	Biarritz, FRA

World Rugby Sevens Series - Japan

Rank	Event	Year	Location
3	Women	2018	Kitakyushu, JPN
3	Women	2017	Kitakyushu, JPN
6	Women	2019	Kitakyushu, JPN

World Rugby Sevens Series - USA

Rank	Event	Year	Location
2	Women	2019	Glendale, CO, USA
2	Women	2017	Las Vegas, NV, USA
5	Women	2018	Glendale, CO, USA

Nickname:

Vani (rio2016.olympics.com.au, 10 Jul 2016)

Languages spoken:

English, Maori

Coach:

John Manenti [national], AUS

Other sports:

She has also represented Australia in touch football. She also played rugby league [13-a-side] for the New Zealand Warriors in the 2020 National Rugby League Women's [NRLW] season in Australia and New Zealand. (tokyo2020.org, 23 Oct 2020; rio2016.olympics.com.au, 10 Jul 2016)

Debut:

2013 for Australia, in Amsterdam, Netherlands (rio2016.olympics.com.au, 10 Jul 2016)

Start:

She went to a try-out day at the Queensland Reds in 2012 as a high school student. She then began playing for her school, and within a year she was representing the state of Queensland at the national championships before being selected for the national squad in 2013. (redsrugby.com.au, 28 Nov 2015)

Reason:

"I love the physicality of the game and also to have the ability to show our attacking skills. I wasn't sure of sevens when I first started. I played for fun and more to see where it would lead, but with women's sevens being brought into Rio in 2016, that has become a massive goal of mine." (rio2016.olympics.com.au, 10 Jul 2016; redsrugby.com.au, 28 Nov 2015)

Hero:

Australian sevens player Emilee Cherry. (redsrugby.com.au, 28 Nov 2015)

Award:

She received the Medal of the Order of Australia [OAM] in recognition of the gold medal she won at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. (dailymercury.com.au, 2017)

General Interest

General
RIO SUCCESS DRIVES WOMEN'S INVOLVEMENT
She believes the gold medal she won at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro helped expose rugby sevens to a new generation of female players. "We did our job in Rio in establishing rugby sevens not only as a male-dominated sport, but a female sport. You've got young girls that now understand rugby sevens and that there's a pathway to becoming an Olympic rugby sevens player. We came out with that goal. We've always looked at sevens being the front runner for women's sport. We were one of the first to become full-time professional [female] athletes in Australia. We also last year [2018] got pay parity with the men. I feel sevens is really driving the standards for women's sports in Australia at the moment." (theguardian.com, 25 Jul 2019)

Social Media

Legend

:: Gold Medal Event
:: Silver Medal Event
:: Bronze Medal Event

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