Sevens heaven: Lewis Holland hunts for gold in rugby sevens at Tokyo Olympic Games

A hamstring strain a month before he was due to arrive in Tokyo for his second Olympic Games appearance naturally left some fearing his gold medal dream was in tatters.

But the thing is, "I've done a fair few of them bastards".

"I knew it wasn't too bad but I knew I would have been pushing it," Holland said.

"They talk about the three and a half to four week window, and from when we played, it was four and a half until Tokyo. I had to be back at training in two weeks.

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"I knew it was possible, I just had to make sure I was diligent in everything I did to stay on top of it.

"As I look back at making teams before, nothing really comes easy and you always get tested. It was just another test I had to pass."

The 28-year-old Queanbeyan product did just that.

Because come Monday morning, Holland joins the Australian men's sevens rugby side ahead of their tournament opener against Argentina at 11.30am before backing up against the Republic of Korea at 7pm.

A clash with gold medal contender New Zealand follows on Tuesday before the finals day on Wednesday in a hit and run tournament.

It will be a tournament like no other for a player who has dedicated much of his rugby career to the sevens format.

The stands will be empty in Tokyo as the world battles a global pandemic which initially postponed the Games from their 2020 timeslot and threatened to see them cancelled completely.

There is naturally a sense of nerves when you represent your country, but Holland wonders if it will feel exactly the same as usual without fans in the stands.

"That tingle in your gut", does it come from a glance at the coat of arms on your jersey, the crowd, the opposition or all of the above?

Holland isn't quite sure. All he knows is he is desperate to claim a gold medal in what looms as a sevens rugby swansong for the former Australian captain as he eyes a move into the Super Rugby ranks for the 2022 season.

Australia's men's side open proceedings. Their gold medal game - should they reach the final - will be run and won before the women's side step up to defend their first-placed finish from Rio.

The women's side is co-captained by Canberra product Sharni Williams. Among the star-studded squad is Holland's partner Charlotte Caslick, who stole the show when Australia won gold in 2016.

Now Holland is determined to add another medal to the collection despite Fiji and New Zealand being widely favoured by bookmakers.

"To go back to another Olympics and compete again for our country, it's hard to explain. It's surreal in a way," Holland said.

"This time there is a couple of us returning from Rio which can bring a bit of experience and knowledge which can calm the nerves for the first couple of games and set us up for a good tournament.

"When I reflect back on Rio, I was very confident. We were playing pretty well, myself, I was playing well. I was confident we were going to be a team to beat.

"You think back to how we went, we lost our first game and then won our second and third. We beat South Africa in the third and they were the hardest game of the crossover, with the way the pooling worked, we got South Africa again and lost to them to playoff for the medal the next day.

"If we just got that first game away it would have been a different story. You can't wish what could have been."

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