New Zealand’s three-time Olympic gold medalist retires, again
NEWS: New Zealand women’s rugby star Portia Woodman-Wickliffe is retiring for a second time at the age of 34.
New Zealand’s top Test try scorer, three-time Olympic medallist, four Rugby World Cup wins (two in XVs, and two in 7s), and the reigning Tom French Memorial Māori Player of the Year, announced her decision on Thursday.
Woodman-Wickliffe came out of a short retirement to play for New Zealand’s Black Ferns at the Women’s World Cup in Britain last year.
Pure pace and power from Portia Woodman-Wickliffe 💪 pic.twitter.com/HeJepnsaYA
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) April 8, 2024
“I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to represent my country, my iwi (tribe), my hapū and my whānau (family) one last time on the World Cup stage, a moment I will cherish forever,” she said in a statement.
“As I step into this next chapter of my life, I feel both excited and a little nervous, but I’m ready.”
Woodman-Wickliffe excelled at track and netball before switching to rugby in 2012, competing at Rio de Janeiro in 2016 when rugby sevens became an Olympic sport for the first time. New Zealand won the silver medal that year.
Her father and uncle both were All Blacks.
She played 241 times for New Zealand on the World Sevens Series, scoring 256 tries, and in 2020 was named the women’s sevens player of the previous decade.
Woodman-Wickliffe was also a member of the New Zealand teams that won the Rugby World Cup in 2017 and 2022.
