Jazmin Felix-Hotham will officially be an Olympian in Paris. Photo: Jeremy Ward
Rugby sevens player Jazmin Felix-Hotham's first official Olympic Games experience in Paris is a far cry from what she went through at the last Olympics in Tokyo.
As a travelling reserve three years ago she was on the cusp of realising a childhood dream.
However she was not called on and instead was confined to a Tokyo hotel room for seven days as she watched her team mates win gold on television.
Now a key part of the Olympic squad of 12 she is making the most of life in the athletes' village - enjoying a few muffins in the dining hall - and planning to make an impact on the field when the New Zealand women kick off their gold medal defence against China on Monday (NZT) at Stade de France.
Halfback Noah Hotham on All Blacks debut. Photo: Photosport
Felix-Hotham becomes an Olympian in the same fortnight as her older brother Legin won a silver medal at the Touch World Cup in England and her younger brother Noah made his debut for the All Blacks against Fiji.
She gets emotional thinking about the siblings achieving their dream simultaneously.
"There's a little bit of pressure on me to go get that gold just to top off the sibling rankings," the 23-year-old joked.
Felix-Hotham's parents were already in Europe to watch the Touch World Cup and missed getting to Noah's surprise debut in San Diego but they will all be in the stands in Paris.
"It's really special since the last time they watched me was in Hamilton [last year] so it's been a while and I'm really excited to have them there in the crowd."
This Olympic Games is Felix-Hotham's first but will be the last for a couple of her legendary team mates who will retire after the Games.
Portia Woodman-Wickliffe will retire after the Paris Olympics. Photo: © Mike Lee - KLC fotos for World Rugby 2024
"As a younger player you think they're never going to leave, they're always going to be here.
"So it's been really special that every moment we have along this journey it is the last for someone in our team and so I think as a team we've tried to make the most of every single step and as we near the end for Tyla and Portia in our team I think we just trying to savour all those little moments with them and hopefully get the job done and give them the ultimate send-off."
Preparation for the 'ultimate send-off' included a pre-Olympic camp in Soustons, "a cute quaint little village" in southwestern France where they also played practice games against Japan.
Felix-Hotham said that time allowed the team to focus.
"It was the best amount of time that we could have before having all the noise of the [athletes] village."
The New Zealand men kick off their rugby sevens Olympic campaign before the women who will be watching on.
After the Sevens World Series aligned the men's and women's competitions Felix-Hotham said the two teams have become closer.
"They have become our brothers so to be able to watch them go out and do the job first is really exciting so hopefully it then gives us the energy to go into our campaign."
New Zealand’s Jazmin Felix-Hotham is tackled by Australia’s Teagan Levi. Photo: ISAAC LAWRENCE
After their first pool game against China, the New Zealand women then play Canada and Fiji.
"There has been a few months between the World Series to the Olympics so every team has had the opportunity for them to go away and work on what they've needed to from the World Series and for us I know we're definitely not going to take any team lightly."
Felix-Hotham was particularly looking forward to playing Canada.
"We lost to them in pool play in Madrid [World Series Grand Final] which ultimately lead to us having to play Australia in a semi-final and so I think for us there is still this fire burning inside us that we want to go out and beat Canada and show what we should have done in Madrid".
