Michaela Blyde
Michaela Blyde (born 29 December 1995) is a New Zealand professional rugby sevens player and Olympic gold medalist. In 2018, she won gold medals at both the Commonwealth Games and the Rugby World Cup Sevens.
| Date of birth | 29 December 1995 | ||||||||||||||
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| Place of birth | New Plymouth, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.63 m (5 ft 4 in) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight | 61 kg (134 lb) | ||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||
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Blyde debuted for New Zealand as a 17-year-old in the 2013 Oceania Women's Sevens Championship.[1]
She was the top try scorer of the 2016–17 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, and was named 2017 World Rugby Women's Sevens Player of the Year.[2][3] In 2018, Blyde was named World Rugby Women's Sevens Player of the Year for the second year running.[4] She also was named the Taranaki Sportswomen of the Year and Overall Sportsperson of the Year at the Taranaki Sports Awards.[5][6]
Personal life
Her younger brother, Liam Blyde also plays rugby as a developmental trialist for the men's Sevens team and played for the Taranaki Bulls team in 2021.[7]
Achievements and honours
- 2017, Canada Sevens Langford dream team[8]
- 2017, World Rugby Women's Sevens Player of the Year [9]
- 2018, World Rugby Women's Sevens Player of the Year[9]
- 2018, Taranaki Sports Awards Sportswoman of the Year and Overall Sportsperson of the Year[10]
- 2019, Australian Women's Sevens performance tracker player of the round[11]
- 2021, Joint winner of Taranaki Daily News Person of the Year 2021 with Gayle Broughton[12]
References
- "Taranaki's Michaela Blyde in Sevens heaven". Stuff.co.nz. 4 October 2013. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
- "Michaela Blyde reaches her goals and some". Stuff.co.nz. 5 July 2017. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
- "New Zealand dominates World Rugby Awards". Radio New Zealand. 27 November 2017. Archived from the original on 1 April 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
- "World Rugby Awards: Michaela Blyde best sevens player for second successive year". Stuff.co.nz. 26 November 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
- Persico, Christina (25 November 2018). "Gold medallist takes home top Taranaki award". Stuff. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
- "Sport Taranaki". www.sporttaranaki.org.nz. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
- "Sevens rugby runs in the family for All Blacks hopeful Liam Blyde". Newshub. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
- "Canadians dominate Langford Dream Team". Americas Rugby News. 29 May 2017. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
- worldrugby.org. "World Rugby Sevens Players of the Year 2019 nominees announced". www.world.rugby. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
- "Gold medallist takes home top Taranaki award". Stuff. 25 November 2018. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- worldrugby.org. "DHL Performance Tracker - HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series | worldrugby.org/sevens-series". www.world.rugby. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
- "Blacks Ferns Sevens stars Blyde and Broughton share Taranaki Daily News Person of the Year 2021". Stuff. 31 December 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2022.