Tyla Nathan-Wong (born 1 July 1994) is a New Zealand professional
rugby sevens representative and two-time Olympic medalist. She became a silver medalist at the
2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and won a gold medal at the
2020 Summer 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 ...
in Tokyo.
Biography
In 2015 and 2019, Nathan-Wong was named New Zealand Sevens Player of the Year. She began playing rugby when she attended
Lynfield College. She is of the
Ngāpuhi
Ngāpuhi (or Ngā Puhi) is a Māori iwi associated with the Northland region of New Zealand and centred in the Hokianga, the Bay of Islands, and Whangārei.
According to the 2018 New Zealand census, the estimated population of Ngāpuhi is 16 ...
tribe, and is also of Chinese and European descent. In 2012 and 2013, she won the Junior Māori Sportswoman of the Year award and was a finalist for the same award in 2014.
Nathan-Wong was selected for the women's sevens team to the
2016 Summer Olympics.
In 2018, Nathan-Wong and her team won both the
2018 Commonwealth Games held on the Gold Coast in Australia, as well as 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 ...
in San Francisco, United States.
In 2019, Nathan-Wong was nominated as a
World Rugby Women's Sevens Player of the Year having completed the season as the top goal kicker in the tournament. She joined the
Blues for the inaugural
Super Rugby Aupiki
Super Rugby Aupiki is a professional women's rugby union club competition in New Zealand. Its inaugural season was held in March 2022. It is a steppingstone between the Farah Palmer Cup and the New Zealand women's national rugby union team, Black ...
competition.
Nathan-Wong 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 ...
in
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 event.
Nathan-Wong got her first
Black Ferns XV's call up after she was selected for the
Laurie O’Reilly Cup Test series against
Australia. She 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 ...
on 20 August 2022 against Australia at the
Orangetheory Stadium in
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...
.
References
External links
Black Ferns ProfileBlack Ferns Sevens Profile*
*
1994 births
New Zealand female rugby union players
New Zealand international rugby union players
New Zealand female rugby sevens players
New Zealand women's international rugby sevens players
New Zealand Māori rugby union players
Rugby sevens players at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Olympic rugby sevens players of New Zealand
Living people
Touch footballers
Ngāpuhi people
New Zealand Māori sportspeople
Olympic silver medalists for New Zealand
Olympic medalists in rugby sevens
Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics
New Zealand sportspeople of Chinese descent
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
People educated at Lynfield College
Rugby sevens players at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Olympic gold medalists for New Zealand
Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics
20th-century New Zealand women
21st-century New Zealand women
Rugby sevens players at the 2022 Commonwealth Games
Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games
Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games
{{NewZealand-rugbyunion-bio-1990s-stub