WAGGA rugby sevens star Alicia Quirk will arrive in Rio with a simple plan that she hopes can help her lead Australia to gold.
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Quirk and her teammates flew out for Rio on Tuesday where her dreams will turn to reality as she embarks on her first Olympic Games.
“I’m excited, pumped, everything...I’m just a ball of emotion,” Quirk said from the departure gates.
“It’s pretty surreal, it doesn’t seem real just yet. I’m sure once we get there it will.”
The Australian Women’s Rugby Sevens squad will touch down in Rio as the number one ranked team and favourite for the gold medal.
Quirk, 24, is chief playmaker of the Australian team and will take a simple approach into the tournament in a bid to get the job done.
“I guess the biggest thing is not to change anything. To treat it the same as any other game,” she said.
“I don’t want to be overwhelmed by the hype of the Olympics.
“I’m our conductor so I’ve got to stay composed and make sure we implement our game plan and processes. Nothing changes even though it’s a bigger stage and there is much more at stake.”
The Games begin on Friday week and the women’s rugby sevens competition gets underway straight away.
Australia begins their campaign on Saturday, August 6 with games against Colombia and Fiji. On Sunday, they face USA before a quarter-final match up.
From there, the semi-final and final are scheduled for Monday.
The Australian team head for a six-day training camp in Porto Belo, a couple of hours from Rio, upon arrival in Brazil.
The Australian Olympic Committee this week confirmed that the athletes' village has been deemed uninhabitable in the short term due to significant plumbing and electrical concerns.
Quirk is not concerned.
“I don’t care where I sleep,” Quirk said.
“I’m just happy to be there and be apart of it.
“We go straight into camp at Porto Belo when we arrive so I’m sure they will be around those issues by the time we’re there.”