Rugby sevens-Huge crowds and incredible stories make memories for the ages

PARIS : Rugby sevens has beens one of the undoubted highlights of the Paris Olympics, delivering huge crowds, thrilling matches, big shocks and the anointing of a true sporting superstar in Antoine Dupont, as well as producing France's first gold of their Games.

Starting two days ahead of the opening ceremony, sevens had the opportunity to grab the early attention but even its biggest supporters were taken aback by the atmosphere generated by near-capacity 67,000 crowds for every session at the Stade de France.

"It's been incredible, 550,000 spectators in six days," said World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin. "We always said this was our chance to have a coming of age rugby sevens and it' been amazing, everything we thought it could be."

Veterans of Six Nations grand slams, the Rugby World Cup and Super 14 finals said the noise that greeted the French men's victory over Argentina in the quarter-finals surpassed them all.

Organisers then got the final they had dreamed of when the hosts battled through to take on double-defending champions Fiji, but there was still so much more to come.

Fiji had won all 17 of their previous Olympic matches and the stadium was wire-tight with tension as the match reached halftime level at 7-7.

Dupont, the superstar of France's 15-man game who had taken a sevens sabbatical, then came off the bench to set up a try with his first touch and score two more as the hosts sent the fans into a frenzy by winning 28-7 to claim their first men's sevens medal and the country's opening gold of the Games.

France's women were unable to match them as they lost in the quarter-finals but the second half of the tournament continued to deliver incredible storylines.

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