One-on-one with US rugby star Sammy Sullivan after Olympic bronze medal win

The U.S. women's rugby team beat Australia Tuesday at the Paris Olympics, winning their first medal ever.

Alex Sedrick ran the length of the field, dived in under the posts and then calmly took the conversion, securing a rugby sevens bronze medal for the United States with a 14-12, last-minute upset.

The American women had lost to defending champion New Zealand in the semis — their first experience at that level — but overcame a 12-7 deficit against the 2016 champion Australians with just seconds on the clock.

Team USA's Sammy Sullivan, a star Colorado rugby player for Glendale's Colorado Gray Wolves, was in tears while teammate Ilona Maher raised her arms up in triumph.

"To make history with my favorite people on the planet, my teammates, right now it's just unbelievable," said Sullivan.

"All that was running through my mind was 'oh my gosh, we're going to win,' because I back spiff everyday of the week to make that run," said Sullivan of Sedrick's run for the win. "She's so fast, she's explosive off the line. As soon as I saw her break from the line I was like 'wow, we're going to score.'"

"When she took a long time celebrating before kicking the conversion I was like 'are we going to win? Are we going to win?' She clutched it out with four seconds left on the clock and just did her thing. Very proud of her for that."

After Tuesday's bronze-medal win in Paris, USA Rugby announced Michelle Kang — owner of the Washington Spirit, Olympique Lyonnais Féminin and London City Lionesses women’s soccer clubs — will gift $4 million over the course of four years to the U.S. women's rugby sevens team.

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