Many of the 60,000-plus fans who watched the New Zealand women’s team win its rugby sevens gold medal Tuesday at the Paris Olympics seemed to have streamed out of the stadium after the athletes received their hardware.
They may have missed the best part of the show.
With medals draped around their necks, the squad performed a passionate haka, a war dance of New Zealand’s Indigenous Māori people that has carried over into the sports world.
The conviction in the athletes’ moves paralleled their power on the pitch. New Zealand’s 19-12 victory over Canada at the Stade de France marked the nation’s first gold medal at the Paris Games and its second straight win in Olympic competition.
