Emma Kate Tonegato (born 20 March 1995) is a professional Australian

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league. Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...

er. She has represented Australia in rugby sevens and

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

. Born in

Wollongong, New South Wales Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...

and playing for The Tribe at

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

club level, she debuted for Australia in November 2013. As of December 2015, she had 12 caps. She won a gold medal at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

in Rio.

Life

Emma's father is Italian Stefano Tonegato who emigrated to Australia from

Valdagno Valdagno is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Vicenza, north-eastern Italy. The town was the birthplace of the textile manufacturing company Marzotto, and home to the Italian hotel chain "Jolly Hotels" Geography The town extends along the ...

, specifically from a

frazione A ''frazione'' (plural: ) is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' (municipality) in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidate territ ...

named "San Quirico Valdagno". Emma started to play rugby when she was ten years old in a female junior team.

Career

Tonegato made her debut for the Australian Women's side in the opening leg of the

2013–14 IRB Sevens World Series The 2013–14 IRB Sevens World Series, known for sponsorship reasons as the HSBC Sevens World Series, was the 15th annual series of rugby union sevens tournaments for full national sides. The IRB Sevens World Series has been run by the Internation ...

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

in November 2013. She has been a regular on the team since. She switched to rugby league and competed at the

2013 Women's Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Women's Rugby League World Cup was the fourth staging of the Women's Rugby League World Cup. The tournament was held in Great Britain from 26 October, culminating in the final between Australia and New Zealand on 14 July. It was held a ...

. She has the ability to play on the wing or in the centres. Tonegato was named in the tournament Dream Team for the Amsterdam leg of the Rugby Sevens World Series in May 2015. Representative Honours include New South Wales, NSW Schoolgirls (2013) and the Youth Olympic Festival (2013). Tonegato was a member of

Australia's Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by a ...

team at the

, defeating New Zealand in the final to win the inaugural sport Olympic gold medal. At the

2017 Australia Day Honours The 2017 Australia Day Honours were announced on 26 January 2017 by the Governor General of Australia, Sir Peter Cosgrove.Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

for service to sport as a gold medalist at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics. Tonegato was named in the Australia squad for the

Rugby sevens at the 2020 Summer Olympics Rugby sevens at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo took place from 26 July to 31 July 2021 at the Tokyo Stadium. 24 teams (12 each for men and women) competed in the tournament. The dates were modified due to the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 ga ...

. The team came second in the pool round but then lost to Fiji 14-12 in the quarterfinals. Full details. In 2021, Tonegato signed with the

St George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint- ...

and played 7 games including the

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

where they lost 16-4. She also won the

Daly M Medal Daly or DALY may refer to: Places Australia * County of Daly, a cadastral division in South Australia * Daly River, Northern Territory, a locality * Electoral division of Daly, an electorate in the Northern Territory * Daly, Northern Territory, a ...

for best and fairest. She resigned with the Dragons in 2022 where she played 6 games and in the Semi Final against the

Knights A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

References

External links

Emma Tonegato
at

Australian Rugby Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named the Australian Rugby Union Limited and Australian Rugby Football Union Limited, is an Australian company operating the premier rugby union competition in Australia and teams. It has its origins in 1949. It ...

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tonegato, Emma 1995 births Living people Australia women's national rugby league team players Australian female rugby league players Australian female rugby sevens players Australian female rugby union players Australia international rugby sevens players Australian people of Italian descent Commonwealth Games medallists in rugby sevens Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Australia Olympic medalists in rugby sevens Olympic rugby sevens players of Australia Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Rugby league players from Wollongong Rugby sevens players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Rugby sevens players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Rugby sevens players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Rugby union players from New South Wales Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games