Natasha Shangwe Olson-Thorne (born 6 October 1992) is a

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

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 ...

player. She represented

at the

2017 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup was the eighth edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup and was held in Ireland in August 2017. New Zealand became the 2017 champions by beating England 41–32 in the final on 26 August. Matches were held in Dubl ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, Hong Kong's first World Cup appearance. Olson-Thorne created history when she scored Hong Kong's first World Cup try in their match against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Biography

Olson-Thorne began playing rugby at the age of 15 while attending

Sha Tin College Sha Tin College (STC) is a co-educational international secondary school in Hong Kong and a member of the English Schools Foundation. Established in 1982 as the Shatin Annexe based in the campus of KGV School in Kowloon Tong, the school re ...

. She made her international debut for the

Hong Kong women's national rugby union team The Hong Kong women's national rugby union team represents Hong Kong in women's rugby union. They played their first international match in 1998 against Japan. History Hong Kong made their World Cup debut at the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup. Hong ...

in 2010. She then made her sevens debut at the 2011 Hong Kong Women's Sevens. In 2015 she graduated from the

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the fi ...

with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in Exercise and Health. She captained the sevens team for the first time at the

2016 Hong Kong Women's Sevens The 2016 Hong Kong Women's Sevens was the 19th edition of the tournament. It took place between the 7th and 8th of April. South Africa won the tournament. Teams Ten teams competed in the tournament. * * * * * * * * * * Tournament ...

, it was her sixth appearance at the tournament. Olson-Thorne was also in the sevens team vying for a spot 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 ...

via a repechage tournament in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. She was in the 2021 sevens squad that 'narrowly' missed their chance on qualifying for the

2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

. She co-captained the Hong Kong sevens team at the 2021 Asia Women's Sevens Series, it was a qualifier event for the

2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens The 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens was the eighth edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens organised by World Rugby. The 2022 tournament, comprising 24 men's and 16 women's teams as previously, was played over three days in one venue in September. It ...

. However, they lost to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in the semifinal and missed their chance. Olson-Thorne was named in the fifteens squad that played in a two-test series against

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

in December 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olson-Thorne, Natasha 1992 births Living people Hong Kong people Hong Kong rugby union players Hong Kong female rugby union players Hong Kong female rugby sevens players Rugby union players at the 2018 Asian Games