Evania Faaea "Vani" Pelite OAM (born 12 July 1995) is an Australian rugby union and rugby league player. She won a gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.

Evania Pelite
Personal information
Full nameEvania Faaea Pelite
Born (1995-07-12) 12 July 1995 (age 29)
Caboolture, Queensland, Australia[1]
Height1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight67 kg (10 st 8 lb)
Playing information
PositionFullback
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2020 New Zealand Warriors 3 3 0 0 12
2021– Gold Coast Titans 30 10 0 0 40
Total 33 13 0 0 52
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2022 Australia 4 7 0 0 28
2022–24 Queensland 6 2 0 0 8
2024 Samoa 2 0 0 0 0
Source: [2]
As of 5 November 2024
Medals
Women's rugby sevens
Representing  Australia
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2016 Rio de Janeiro Team competition
Commonwealth Games
Silver medal – second place 2018 Gold Coast Team competition

Pelite made her debut for the Australian women's national rugby sevens team at the age of 17 at the 2013 Amsterdam Women's Sevens.[3][4] She also represented Australia in touch rugby.[5][6]

Pelite was selected to represent Australia in rugby sevens at the 2016 Summer Olympics.[7] She was a member of Australia's team at the 2016 Olympics, defeating New Zealand in the final to win the inaugural Olympic gold medal in the sport.[8][9][10][11][12][13][14]

She also won a silver medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.[15]

Pelite was named in the Australia squad for the Rugby sevens at the 2020 Summer Olympics.[16] The team came second in the pool round but then lost to Fiji 14-12 in the quarterfinals.[17] Full details.

Honours and achievements

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References

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  1. ^ "Vani Pelite". Commonwealth Games Australia. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  2. ^ "Evania Pelite - Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project.
  3. ^ "Evania Pelite: Road to Rio". redsrugby.com.au. 28 November 2015. Archived from the original on 29 October 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  4. ^ "Evania Pelite". Official Site of the 2016 Australian Olympic Team. Australian Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 25 February 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  5. ^ "Evania Pelite". rugby.com.au. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  6. ^ Scanlon, Jill (17 March 2016). "From touch heroes to rugby team-mates, Evania Pelite loves playing with these women". SBS.com.au. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  7. ^ "Aussies name rugby sevens squads for Rio Olympics". ABC News. 14 July 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  8. ^ "Australia wins gold in women's rugby sevens". Sky News. 9 August 2016. Archived from the original on 9 August 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  9. ^ Newman, Beth (14 July 2016). "Rio Olympics: Australian Sevens teams announced". www.rugby.com.au. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  10. ^ "Rio Olympics: Australia's men's and women's sevens squads unveiled". foxsports.com.au. 14 July 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  11. ^ "Rio 2016: Olympic squads named by Australia for rugby sevens debut at Games". ABC.net.au. 14 July 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  12. ^ "Australia's Olympic Sevens squads announced". Rugby News.net.au. 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  13. ^ "Australia name a mix of veterans, young guns for men's, women's Olympic sevens squads". ESPN.com.au. 15 July 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  14. ^ "Key players return as Australia name Olympic sevens squads". worldrugby.org. 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  15. ^ "Vani Pelite Results | Commonwealth Games Australia". commonwealthgames.com.au. 3 April 2018. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  16. ^ Williamson, Nathan (2 July 2021). "Australia announces Olympic Sevens squads | Latest Rugby News | RUGBY.com.au". www.rugby.com.au.
  17. ^ "Australian Olympic Team for Tokyo 2021". The Roar. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  18. ^ worldrugby.org. "DHL Performance Tracker - HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series | worldrugby.org/sevens-series". www.world.rugby. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
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