Katy McLean has been named as part of Team GB’s squad for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Katy, who graduated from Sports Studies at the University of Sunderland, is a World Cup winner as Captain of England Women’s Rugby. She has joined the team to compete in rugby sevens in Rio. It will be the first time in 108 years that Team GB has had representation in rugby at Olympic level and a first for the seven-a-side format.
Competition takes place over six days with the women competing first from August 6-8 at the Deodoro Stadium in a pool which includes hosts Brazil, Japan and Canada.
Katy joins fellow Sunderland graduate Aly Dixon, who will compete in the Olympic marathon. Aly is a graduate of Sport and Exercise Development, and along with Katy represents the University’s first Olympic athletes since the University’s Chancellor Steve Cram won Silver for Team GB in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Katy Mclean MBE was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the University in 2015, in recognition of her achievements and her services to rugby and women’s sport.
Katy, England Rugby’s fly half and captain of five years, led her team to World Cup victory in Canada in 2014. She became the first woman to play rugby for England professionally and has 78 caps for the national team.
She completed a Sports Studies BSc in 2007. She then gained a PG Cert in Education in 2011 and began teaching at Bexhill Academy in Sunderland, all while playing top-flight Women’s Rugby.
Team GB Captain Emily Scarratt said: “To wear the GB shirt and compete in the Olympics is a childhood dream that we are now, as a team, turning into reality.
“As a squad, we are looking forward to being among the first athletes to play rugby sevens on the world’s biggest sporting stage. I am immensely proud to be representing Great Britain and introducing women’s rugby to new audiences.”