Birth name | Nathan Hirayama | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date of birth | 23 March 1988 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Richmond, British Columbia, Canada | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 183 cm (6 ft 0 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 88 kg (13 st 12 lb; 194 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
School | McRoberts Secondary School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
University | University of Victoria | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Nathan Hirayama (born 23 March 1988) is a Canadian former rugby player. His primary position was fly-half, however, but he also played fullback. He played for both the Canadian national team and the Canadian sevens team. At club level, Hirayama played for the University of Victoria in the British Columbian Premiership and the BC Bears in the Canadian Rugby Championship.
Hirayama was selected for the Canadian national team to attend the 2007, 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cups, although he did not play any games in 2007. He appeared as a substitute two of Canada's four 2011 World Cup group stage matches. He was Canada's starting fly-half for the 2015 World Cup, playing in all four group stage matches and recording 20 points. [1]
Hirayama debuted for the Canadian sevens team in the 2006 Dubai Sevens in the IRB Sevens World Series at age 18. Two years later he debuted for the Canadian national men's team against Portugal in Lisbon. He was selected for the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Russia helping Canada to win the Plate competition and finishing as the tournament's top scorer with 49 points.[ citation needed ] Hirayama was a part of Canada's rugby sevens team at the 2010, 2014, and 2018 Commonwealth Games. Hirayama has also competed at the Pan American Games, winning gold in 2011 and 2015, and silver in 2019.
In June 2021, Hirayama was named to Canada's 2020 Summer Olympics team. [2] [3] He will be Canada's flag-bearer at the opening ceremony games alongside Miranda Ayim. [4] [5] He announced his retirement from all forms of rugby in September 2021. [6] At the time of his retirement, he was ranked third on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series all-time points-scoring list, with 1859 total points. [6]
Hirayama is of Japanese Canadian descent and was born in Richmond, British Columbia, as were both his parents. [7] [8] Hirayama's father, Garry Hirayama, also represented Canada in both codes of the game in the 1980s, winning 12 caps as fly-half for the national team, [9] and was also part of Canada's first sevens team to travel to Hong Kong. [10] Together they are the first-ever rugby-playing father-son duo for Canada.[ citation needed ]
The United States men's national rugby union team, nicknamed the Eagles, represents the United States of America Rugby Football Union in men's international rugby union. USA Rugby is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States, and is a member of Rugby Americas North, one of six regional governing bodies under World Rugby. Until rugby returned to Olympic competition, with sevens at the 2016 Rio Games, the United States was the reigning Olympic rugby champion, having defeated the one other competitor in 1920 and the two other competitors at the 1924 Summer Olympics.
Julie Wu Chu is an American-Canadian former Olympic ice hockey player who played forward on the United States women's ice hockey team and defense with Les Canadiennes of the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL). She won the Patty Kazmaier Award in 2007 for best female collegiate hockey player while at Harvard University. She finished her collegiate career as the all-time assists leader and points scorer in NCAA history with 284 points, until the record was broken in 2011. She is tied as the second-most decorated US woman in Olympic Winter Games history. She was selected by fellow Team USA members to be the flag bearer at the Closing Ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Miranda Joy Ayim is a Canadian basketball player for Basket Landes in France. Ayim is a captain of the Canada women's national team and competed for Canada in three Olympics between 2012 and 2021.
Conor Adam Trainor is a Canadian rugby union player. He is from Vancouver, where he started playing rugby at St. George's School.
The New Zealand women's national rugby sevens team represents New Zealand in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens, Summer Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games.
Rugby sevens at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo took place from 26 July to 31 July 2021 at the Tokyo Stadium. 24 teams competed in the tournament. The dates were modified due to the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 games as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Brittany "Britt" Benn is a Canadian rugby union player. She represented Canada at the 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup. She was a member of the touring squad that played France and England in November 2013.
Karen Paquin is a Canadian rugby union player. Known for her power and speed, she is skilled at both the sevens and 15s version of the game.
Connor Jackson Braid is a Canadian rugby union player. Braid is capable of playing at fly-half, in the centres or in the back three for XVs. In VIIs Braid's preferred position is at prop.
Harry Ainsley Jones is a rugby union fly-half who plays for Greater Sydney Rams and Canada. Jones made his debut for Canada in 2012 and was part of the Canada squad at the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
Ghislaine Landry is a Canadian rugby union player. She won a gold medal at the 2015 Pan American Games as a member of the Canadian women's rugby sevens team. During the 2016-17 season, Landry succeeded Jen Kish as captain of the national sevens. On 20 October 2018, Landry became the first woman to hit the 1,000 point milestone in the women's sevens World Series.
Bianca Farella is a Canadian rugby player. In 2016, she was named to Canada's first ever women's rugby sevens Olympic team.
Canada competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the nation's debut in 1900, Canadian athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games, with the exception of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow because of the country's support for United States-led boycott.
During the Parade of Nations within the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, which took place on 23 July 2021, athletes and officials from each participating team entered the Olympic Stadium preceded by their flag and placard bearer. Each flag bearer will have been chosen either by the team's National Olympic Committee or by the athletes themselves. For the first time, each team had the option to allow two flag bearers, one male and one female, in an effort to promote gender equality. These Olympics were postponed from 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and due security measures some countries prevented their athletes to participate on event.
Theo Sauder is a Canadian rugby union player that plays fullback and fly-half. He currently plays for the Toronto Arrows in Major League Rugby as well as the Canada national rugby sevens team.
The men's rugby sevens tournament at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held in Japan. It was hosted at Tokyo Stadium, which also served as a host stadium of the 2019 Rugby World Cup. The tournament was played over three days from 26–28 July 2021. The tournament was won by the returning champions, Fiji.
Canada competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan, from 24 August to 5 September 2021.
Sri Lanka competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the nation's eighteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics, with the exception of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. Seven of the nation's previous Olympic appearances were under the name Ceylon.
Demi Hayes is an Australian rugby sevens player.
Jamaica competed at the 2022 Commonwealth Games at Birmingham, England from 28 July to 8 August 2022.