Michaela Blyde (born 29 December 1995) is a New Zealand professional rugby sevens player and Olympic gold medalist. Her mother, Cherry Blyde, became the first female president of the

Taranaki rugby football union Taranaki Rugby, previously the Taranaki Rugby Football Union, is the governing body for rugby union in Taranaki, New Zealand; Taranaki is a region of New Zealand that covers areas in the districts of New Plymouth and South Taranaki. Established ...

in 2022.

Personal life

Her younger brother, Liam Blyde also plays rugby as a developmental trialist for the men's Sevens team and played for the Taranaki Bulls team in 2021.

Rugby career

Blyde debuted for

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 ...

as a 17-year-old in the

2013 Oceania Women's Sevens Championship The 2013 Oceania Women's Sevens Championship was the third edition of the Oceania Women's Sevens Championship. It was held from 5–6 October 2013 in Noosa, Australia. Australia were crowned Champions with Fiji as runner-up. Tournament Group phase ...

in Australia. In 2018, she won gold medals at both the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

and the

Rugby World Cup Sevens Rugby World Cup Sevens (RWCS) is the quadrennial world championship of rugby sevens, a variant of rugby union. Organised by World Rugby, it currently consists of men's and women's tournaments, and is the highest level of competition in the sport ...

. She also won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Blyde was named in the Black Ferns Sevens squad for the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

. She won a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games. She later won a silver medal at the

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

Achievements and honours

* 2017,

Canada Sevens The Canada Sevens is an annual rugby sevens tournament held every March. It is one of the ten stops on the World Rugby Sevens Series, and is played the weekend after the USA Sevens in Las Vegas. Canada secured a four-year deal to host to event ...

Langford dream team. * 2017, World Rugby Women's Sevens Player of the Year. * 2018, World Rugby Women's Sevens Player of the Year. * 2018, Taranaki Sports Awards Sportswoman of the Year and Overall Sportsperson of the Year. * 2019,

Australian Women's Sevens The Australian Women's Sevens, currently hosted in Sydney, is an annual rugby sevens tournament and one of the stops on the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series. Australia joined the women's circuit in 2017 for the fifth edition of the series. ...

performance tracker player of the round. * 2021, Joint winner of ''

Taranaki Daily News The ''Taranaki Daily News'' is a daily morning newspaper published in New Plymouth, New Zealand. History The paper was founded as the ''Taranaki News'' on 14 May 1857, by friends of former Taranaki Province Superintendent Charles Brown.J.S. Tu ...

'' Person of the Year 2021 with

Gayle Broughton Gayle Broughton (born 5 June 1996) is a former New Zealand rugby union sevens player who played for the New Zealand women's national rugby sevens team. She made her international debut for New Zealand in 2014 and called time on her rugby career ...

References

External links

*
Black Ferns profile
1995 births Living people New Zealand female rugby sevens players New Zealand women's international rugby sevens players Rugby sevens players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players of New Zealand Commonwealth Games gold medallists for New Zealand Commonwealth Games medallists in rugby sevens World Rugby Awards winners Olympic rugby sevens players of New Zealand Rugby sevens players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for New Zealand Olympic medalists in rugby sevens 20th-century New Zealand women 21st-century New Zealand women Rugby sevens players at the 2022 Commonwealth Games {{NewZealand-rugbyunion-bio-1990s-stub