US rugby player Sarah Levy kvells over Paris bronze, seeks gold at home in LA in 2028
The 28-year-old physical therapy PhD candidate and professional athlete says she’s glad to put her sport on the map for Americans – and connect with fellow Jews while she’s at it
PARIS — Olympic bronze medalist Sarah Levy described it as the biggest adrenaline rush of her life.
It was two minutes into the Team USA’s rugby sevens opening Olympic tournament game against Japan, in front of about 70,000 fans inside the famed Stade de France. Japan had just scored a try to take an early 7-0 lead.
Seconds later, the ball ended up in Levy’s hands. The 28-year-old Jewish-American said her only thought was to run as fast as she possibly could.
“I’m not the fastest player on our team,” said Levy, who lived in Israel for a year as a toddler before growing up in San Diego. “I thought I might get caught. And then they didn’t catch me. I made it. And I remember diving right over these Olympic rings that were painted on the field. I was looking right at them, and being like: ‘Oh my god, I just scored at the Olympics. This is crazy.’ We had come to the stadium the day before and I had looked at this field and I remembered seeing those rings. It was almost like I had already visualized what I did. It was very cool. It was insane. It was euphoric.”
The Americans would go on to easily win the game, 36-7. Two whirlwind days later, their tournament was over, capped by a dramatic upset win over Australia in the bronze medal game — a historic first-ever medal for the US in Olympic rugby sevens.
“For us, getting a bronze is as good as gold, just putting rugby on the map in the US is huge. It’s great to see all the support that we’ve been getting, even people who don’t play rugby or don’t follow rugby at all,” Levy said.
It was also deeply meaningful on a personal level for Levy, who was born in Cape Town to a South African father and an American mother. Her parents moved to Israel when she was two and her younger sister Ilana was born there before the family picked up again a year later to settle in San Diego.
Levy went to preschool at the local Jewish Community Center (JCC) and attended synagogue there. She also returned to Israel on several occasions, including for the bat mitzvahs of herself and her sister, and as part of the March of the Living program, while some close family friends and a few relatives still live there.
She also played soccer in the 2010 and 2012 JCC Maccabi Games, just one of several sports Levy played as an athletic youngster — with rugby not among them. In fact, the first time she even tried to play rugby she was 18 and in her first year at Northeastern University. Levy immediately knew it was the sport for her and rose rapidly through the ranks, eventually making the rugby sevens national team in 2022.
Along the way, she was delighted to discover a family connection to the sport. Levy’s great-grandfather, Louis Babrow, represented the Springboks, the national team of South Africa, on a tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1937. Her great-uncles played at an elite level in South Africa as well.
It all came full circle for Levy in Paris.
“It was the second day of the Olympics. My grandma had actually sent me a photo of my great-grandpa holding me as a little baby, and she was saying your great-grandpa is watching over you,” recounted the health sciences graduate, who is currently pursuing a doctorate in physical therapy. “I’m here at the Olympics for the same sport that he got known for. It means everything.”
“I know it means a lot to my dad, and my dad’s family especially,” Levy continued. “So the medal means so much, not just because of the patriotism I have for the US and how big the Olympics are to us Americans, but also because of the deep-rooted South African ties to rugby that I have. It’s just a perfect mix of two different legacies.”
Levy also takes pride in her heritage as an elite Jewish athlete and maintains strong ties to Israel.
“When people hear or see my name Levy, automatically people who are Jewish know that I’m Jewish. So, it has some type of representation, and I didn’t realize that until one time, someone had seen my name on the roster of a US game and she came up to me after the game and said, ‘I’m Jewish. I play at Penn State.’ And it was just like the coolest feeling.”
Now, with a bronze medal around her neck, she hopes her success might bring more Jews, and more Israelis, to the sport of rugby.
“There aren’t many Jews that play rugby in Israel, or anywhere. Maybe this will make the image of Jews in rugby just a little bit bigger,” Levy said, noting that she has a close relationship with US women’s Maccabiah rugby coach Eyal Hakim, and that she would like to suit up for the team, maybe even as early as 2025, if the scheduling can work out for her.
She is also close to Zack Test, who was part of the US men’s Olympic rugby sevens team in 2016 and is now an assistant coach on the women’s national team, known as the Eagles. With the team based in Chula Vista — just a short drive from where Levy grew up and still lives — Test’s kids now go to the same JCC preschool where Levy went more than two decades ago.
For Levy, the support of another Jewish person in the national team environment makes a big impact.
“There are times, like if it’s Passover, Zack will connect with me about it and ask if I had a seder, which we can talk about, so that means a lot,” she said.
With her team finishing its competition early in the Games, Levy was able to be a tourist and take in a lot of Olympic sports before attending Sunday’s closing ceremony and flying back to the US the next day.
She has two courses to finish at the University of Saint Augustine in nearby San Marcos, which will take her until December. While doing that, Levy will continue to train and compete with the national team. In January, she’ll take six months away from the squad to do clinical rotations, the last step in completing her degree.
After she graduates, Levy will head straight back to the team with her eyes firmly fixed on the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. She’ll have the chance for a hometown Games — hoping this time to ascend two steps higher up the podium and add a gold medal to her collection.
“Just seeing how well we did here is so inspiring. Our coaches and our staff put out a plan and our goals and the process is working,” Levy said “So, it keeps you motivated to continue on that same path because right now, whatever we’re doing, we’re doing it right.”
The Times of Israel Community.