Former coaches, teammates celebrate Alysha Corrigan's Olympic medal

Less than an hour after Canada defeated Australia in the women's rugby sevens semifinal Tuesday at the Paris Olympics, Alysha Corrigan's former teammates and coaches filled a bar in downtown Charlottetown to watch their friend compete for gold.

"I don't think I've stopped vibrating since the semifinal game this morning," said Cassie MacKenzie, who coached Corrigan on P.E.I.'s provincial rugby team and at UPEI. 

"No matter the result, we're so proud of Alysha."

They came to watch Corrigan play, and the Charlottetown native didn't disappoint — running in a try just before halftime to put Canada up 12-7 over New Zealand. As she touched it in, the bar erupted. People wearing red and white clapped and cheered and jumped up and down.

"She scored on the best team in the world," said Megan Carter, one of Corrigan's former teammates. "Overwhelming, tears, we're just all so excited and proud of her."

Shannon Atkins, the coach who recruited Corrigan to play at UPEI, said it was a powerful moment watching her score.

"I talked to her a couple weeks ago and she said, 'I'm worried that I'm not fast enough,'" Atkins said. "And I think she just proved she's absolutely fast enough."

Many of the people watching played with Corrigan, so few were surprised to see her in a Canadian uniform playing for gold.

"She has just worked so hard," MacKenzie said. "She had this goal to be on the Olympic team and she has just put her head down and worked and deserves to be here on this stage."

New Zealand responded in the second half with two tries and a conversion to beat Canada 19-12 in the championship game.

Despite the loss, Corrigan now has an Olympic silver medal, making her only the second Islander to win a medal at the Summer Games, and the first to do so since 1912.

Corrigan's former teammates and coaches at the bar Tuesday said Team Canada's success will no doubt inspire others.

"All these young girls will be like, 'I can do that too. It's not something that's unattainable. It's something tangible. We can touch it,'" Atkins said. "We can feel it today, and I think all these young girls will be like, 'I can do what she did.'"

This is Canada's best Olympic result in women's rugby sevens after winning bronze in Rio in 2016, the first Olympics to include the sport.