Rugby

Rugby (rugby union, to be specific, to differentiate it from professional sport of rugby league) has been contested at the Olympics in 1900, 1908, 1920, and 1924. Amazingly, the defending Olympic champions are the United States – not known for their outstanding rugby teams – who won the gold medals in both 1920 and 1924. World Rugby (WR) governs the sport worldwide and is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Founded in 1886 as the International Rugby Football Board, it was renamed to the International Rugby Board in 1996 and to its current name of World Rugby in 2020. It has 108 member nations, with 20 associate nations as of 2021.

Rugby sevens, or seven-a-side rugby football with shorter periods, was approved for inclusion to the Olympic Program by the IOC Executive Board in 2001. This proposal was tabled by the IOC session, and dismissed at the 2005 IOC session, but it was again brought up in 2009, when the IOC approved it for inclusion in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.