Gemma Etheridge (born 1 December 1986) is a semi-professional Australian

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 it ...

player. She represents Australia in Sevens Rugby. Born in

Tamworth, New South Wales Tamworth is a city and administrative centre of the north-western region of New South Wales, Australia. Situated on the Peel River within the local government area of the Tamworth Regional Council, it is the largest and most populated city in t ...

and playing for The Tribe at a club level, she debuted for Australia in November 2012. She won a gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. Gemma Etheridge, who is the twin sister of fellow Rugby Sevens player, Nikki, is a qualified Radiographer from Tamworth, but calls

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 ...

home. Gemma is a utility and can play either as a forward or as a back. Gemma grew up on a farm and still spends a lot of weekends doing cattle work. In November 2015, Etheridge was the first female Sevens Player Director to join the Rugby Union Players’ Association (RUPA) Board. She 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

2016 Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro ...

, defeating

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in the final to win the inaugural Olympic gold medal in the sport. 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 medallist at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

References

External links

Gemma Etheridge
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 ...

* * * 1986 births Australian female rugby union players Australia international rugby sevens players Australian female rugby sevens players Living people Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Australia Olympic medalists in rugby sevens Olympic rugby sevens players for Australia Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Rugby sevens players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Tamworth, New South Wales Rugby union players from New South Wales Sportswomen from New South Wales {{Australia-rugbyunion-bio-stub