US women's rugby sevens pick Doyle and Kelter for their third Olympics

US women’s rugby sevens pick Doyle and Kelter for their third Olympics

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FILE - New Zealand’s captain Risi Pouri-Lane tackles Lauren Doyle, captain of team United States, during the women’s final match in the Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament in Hong Kong, Sunday, April 7, 2024. Lauren Doyle and Alev Kelter will appear at their third Olympics with a shot at helping the United States win its first rugby sevens medal in Paris. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte, FIle)

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FILE - Rugby player Alev Kelter poses at the 2016 Team USA Media Summit in Beverly Hills, Calif., March 8, 2016. Lauren Doyle and Alev Kelter will appear at their third Olympics with a shot at helping the United States win its first rugby sevens medal in Paris.(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

CHULA VISTA, Calif. (AP) — Lauren Doyle and Alev Kelter will appear at their third Olympics with a shot at helping the United States win its first rugby sevens medal in Paris.

Doyle and Kelter were in the women’s squads which finished fifth in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 — rugby sevens’ Olympic debut — and sixth in Tokyo in 2021.

Doyle and Naya Tapper were named co-captains of the 12-women roster selected on Monday, more than half of whom have had the Olympic experience.

They are medal contenders again.

“We are very excited about this team,” coach Emilie Bydwell said in a statement. “The players complement each other extremely well, enabling individuals to express their strengths and simultaneously bring out the superpowers of those around them and the team.”

The women finished the recent world series fifth overall.

In eight tournaments, they reached three semifinals and the final in Hong Kong, the series’ biggest tournament.

In the series finale in Madrid this month, they beat Canada and Britain but lost to New Zealand and missed out on reaching the semifinals on points difference.

New Zealand, the reigning Olympic champion, also beat the Eagles in the Hong Kong final.

The first Olympic champion, Australia, stopped the Eagles in the semifinals in Cape Town, Perth and Los Angeles.

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The U.S. men won Olympic rugby gold medals in the 15s version in 1920 and 1924, but rugby didn’t return to the program until 2016, in the reduced but faster sevens version with men and women.

“Our goal,” Bydwell said, “is not just to compete but to move the jersey forward, leaving a legacy for those to follow and to deliver a performance that inspires American fans.”

The Eagles will know who is in their Olympic pool this weekend. They leave for a training camp in Tours, France, in mid-July. The three-day Olympic competition at Stade de France starts on July 28, following the men.

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United States: Lauren Doyle (co-captain), Naya Tapper (co-captain), Alev Kelter, Kayla Canett, Kristi Kirshe, Ilona Maher, Ariana Ramsey, Alena Olsen, Spiff Sedrick, Sammy Sullivan, Sarah Levy, Steph Rovetti. Traveling reserves: Kris Thomas, Nicole Heavirland.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/summer-olympics

Olympic Hightlights

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FILE - South Africa’s Jacques Freitag competes in the men’s high jump of the 2004 Olympic Games, in the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Friday Aug. 20, 2004. Local media is reporting that South African police have discovered the body of former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag after he went missing last month. The reports said the 42-year-old, who won the 2003 world title in Paris and competed at the 2004 Olympics, had been shot. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

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FILE - Ilona Maher of USA is tackled by Sharni Williams of Australia in a semifinal of the Rugby World Cup 7’s championship held in Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022. The main task for Maher, the breakout social media star on TikTok at the Tokyo Olympics, is winning a medal in Paris. (AP Photo/Halden Krog, File)

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FILE - Jacques Freitag of South Africa waves his national flag after he won the Men’s high jump event at the World Athletics Championships, at the Stade de France in Saint Denis, north of Paris, Monday, Aug. 25, 2003. Local media is reporting that South African police have discovered the body of former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag after he went missing last month. The reports said the 42-year-old, who won the 2003 world title in Paris and competed at the 2004 Olympics, had been shot. (AP Photo/Thomas Kienzle, File)

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Sammy Sullivan of USA in action during HSBC rugby sevens series in Singapore, on May 4, 2024. The anthem played as Army officer Sammy Sullivan stood to attention and saluted beside her U.S. rugby teammates before a gold-medal game in Hong Kong against Olympic champion New Zealand. No prizes for guessing where her mind may have drifted to: Paris in July. (AP Photo/Suhaimi Abdullah)

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USA Water Polo Women’s Senior National Team attacker Ryann Neushul, left, trains at Long Beach City College Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, in Long Beach, Calif. Following in the footsteps of two older sisters who won gold with the U.S. women’s water polo team, Ryann Neushul is making her Olympic debut in Paris this summer. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

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Iranian wrestler Iman Mahdavi, 28, practices at the Lotta Club Seggiano gym, in Pioltello , northern Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

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FILE - Steven van de Velde of the Netherlands competes during the CEV Beach Volley Nations Cup Vienna 2022 men’s semifinal game against Austria at the Red Bull Beach Arena in Vienna, Austria, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. Van de Velde, convicted and imprisoned eight years ago for raping an underage girl in England has qualified for the Paris Olympics. (AP Photo/Florian Schroetter, File)