P.E.I.'s Alysha Corrigan 'feeling the love' after Olympic silver medal win

Charlottetown native Alysha Corrigan said she's been on a "roller coaster of emotions" since winning a silver medal with the Canadian women's rugby sevens team at the Olympic Games in Paris on Tuesday. 

"I don't even know if it's sunk in yet," Corrigan told host Mitch Cormier on Island Morning. 

"It's so special to be able to share this moment with the group, and family and friends."

Live the moment: Canada pulls off a major rugby upset over Australia to guarantee medal at Paris 2024

4 months ago

Duration 2:23

Canada defeated Australia in women's rugby 7s at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, guaranteeing themselves a medal and the best-ever finish in team history at the Olympics.

The team was ranked fifth going into the Olympics but scored a stunning upset against the favoured Australia in the semi-final earlier Tuesday to advance to the gold medal match against New Zealand. 

Corrigan scored a key try near the end of the first half against New Zealand to put Canada up 12-7. 

New Zealand responded in the second half, and the final score was 19-12. 

Squad turned it around

The women's rugby sevens team had an early tournament loss to New Zealand, but quickly turned things around. 

"We had to look at ourselves and be like, 'Is this the tournament that we want to have or are we going to decide to turn this around and come here and actually compete for a medal, like we said?'" said Corrigan.

She said the squad knew it would be a tough battle against France in the quarter-finals, especially in front of a raucous hometown crowd — which Corrigan said fuelled the team's fire even more. 

"A moment that I'll never forget is when we ran out against France and we were waiting for them to run out and then the crowd was just cheering so loud for them," she said. 

"It was incredible just to be part of history." 

Corrigan said the support from her family and friends has been invaluable. 

"I could get emotional just thinking about it, really," she said. "I definitely have been feeling the love." 

Alysha Corrigan's friends, former teammates gather in P.E.I. to cheer on the Olympic medallist

4 months ago

Duration 1:37

Friends and former teammates of P.E.I.'s Alysha Corrigan gathered in Charlottetown to cheer her on in the women's rugby sevens gold medal match at the Paris Olympics. Team Canada took home silver, its best-ever finish at the Games.

Rugby growing in Canada

After the Canadian women's rugby sevens team won bronze at the Olympic Games Rio 2016, there was huge growth for the sport in Canada, she said. 

"I just know that now it's just going to probably grow even more, which is amazing," Corrigan said. "If we can inspire somebody to pick up a rugby ball for the first time, then we did our job."

Corrigan has become the second Islander to ever win an Olympic medal at the summer games — and the first since 1912. 

"The support from P.E.I., and the support from Canada, it's been incredible," Corrigan said. 

She said she plans to celebrate with Islanders when she gets home from Paris. 

Island Morning6:05Alysha Corrigan on Canada's historic rugby win