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| Human Interest | |
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Further Personal Information | |
| Residence | Bristol, ENG |
| Higher education | Sport Management - Hartpury College: England |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Name of coach | Tony Roques [national], GBR |
International Debut | |
| Year | 2009 |
| Competing for | England |
| Location | Wellington, NZL |
Further Personal Information | |
| Occupation | Athlete, Coach |
| Languages | English |
General Interest | |
| Superstitions / Rituals / Beliefs | He likes to put his left sock and left shoe on before his right. (rugbyworld.com, 18 Jan 2012) |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Why this sport? | His father encouraged him to take up the sport. |
General Interest | |
| Hero / Idol | Fijian rugby union [15-a-side] and sevens players William Ryder and Waisale Serevi, English rugby union player Jason Robinson. (rugbywrapup.com, 23 Aug 2011) |
| Awards and honours | In 2020 he was presented with the Mark of Excellence by World Rugby in recognition of becoming the first sevens player to score 350 tries in the World Series. (world.rugby, 16 Sep 2020) He was named England Sevens Player of the Year for 2013. (jamesgrant.com, Jun 2013) |
Sport Specific Information | |
| When and where did you begin this sport? | He began playing rugby at age eight for Spartans RFC in Gloucester, England. |
General Interest | |
| Nicknames | Denzel (rugbyworld.com, 18 Jan 2012) |
| Sporting philosophy / motto | "You can only control what you can control." (voice-online.co.uk, 19 Apr 2013) |
| Most influential person in career | His father Aubrey, and his coach at Hartpury College Allan Lewis. (rfu.com, 12 Jul 2013) |
| Memorable sporting achievement | Winning silver at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. (Instagram profile, 21 Feb 2021) |
| Other sports | He has played rugby union [15-a-side] for Bristol and Gloucester in the Premiership Rugby league in England. In August 2020 he joined English rugby union club London Irish on a short-term contract. (bbc.co.uk, 17 Aug 2020; dannorton.co.uk, 20 Jul 2016) |
| Ambitions | To win a gold medal at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (theguardian.com, 25 Aug 2020) |
| Other information | OTHER EDUCATION He has also studied at the University of the West of England in Bristol, England. (Facebook profile, 07 Nov 2019) |
| Milestones | He became the first sevens player to score 350 tries in the World Series at the 2020 Sydney Sevens tournament. (world.rugby, 16 Sep 2020) In April 2017 he became the all-time top try-scorer in rugby sevens at the World Series, scoring his 245th try to move ahead of Kenya's Collins Injera. "It was quite an amazing feeling to be honest. I never thought I'd be in this kind of position. I'm very humbled to be at the top of the tree." (edition.cnn.com, 12 May 2017; bbc.co.uk, 07 Apr 2017) He was part of the team that won Great Britain's first Olympic rugby sevens medal, a silver at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. (theguardian.com, 25 Aug 2020; SportsDeskOnline, 09 Mar 2021) |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Preferred position / style / stance / technique | Back |