It is the question all Olympic medallists are asked. When Late Show host Stephen Colbert last week questioned Stephen Curry about where he kept his gold medal from Paris, the U.S. basketball star pulled the medal out of his pocket and said: “It’s been a couple of weeks and I don’t think it’s been outside of arm’s length.”
University of Victoria Vikes and Canada rugby sevens player Carissa Norsten isn’t appearing on any late-night talk shows but still keeps her silver medal from the Paris Olympics handy: “It’s on a shelf in a room in my house and everyone who comes by takes a peek. It still feels surreal and incredible. It’s a dream come true.”
But for every Olympian, that moment eventually gives way again to the day-to-day grind of club play. It will soon for Curry with the Golden State Warriors and already has for Norsten as the fleet winger scored the winning try in the 79th minute as U Sports national No. 5-ranked UVic opened Canada West XVs play with a 22-17 win against the national No. 7 UBC Thunderbirds last weekend at Wallace Field and will host the University of Lethbridge there on Thursday at 5 p.m.
“It’s been a smooth transition back to UVic and Canada West,” said Norsten, although minus what she described as the “surround sound” of the Stade de France in the Olympics.
“I took three weeks off and then got right back into it,” said the 2023-24 HSBC World Series rookie of the year.
Norsten was among three players out of UVic, including former Vikes Krissy Scurfield and Shalaya Valenzuela, who played in the 2024 Olympics for Canada. It brought to 77 the number of Olympic medals won by UVic athletes since 1984.
“Having those Vikes connections in Paris with Krissy and Shalaya was so cool,” said Norsten, who also won silver with Canada in the 2023 Santiago Pan Am Games.
It proved again you can get there from here.
“It’s a big deal when Olympians are choosing to play in this league, and it demonstrates the strength of U Sports as a pathway for Rugby Canada,” UVic head coach and former national-team player Brittany Waters said in a statement.
Like many modern rugby players, Norsten moves seamlessly between the XVs and sevens versions of the game, although she did express a preference when pressed by the Times Colonist: “I like both but prefer sevens because the extra [field] space is nice. But I am still learning the game and getting more into XVs. It’s the same game but with more players out there.”
Already with an Olympic silver medal at age 20, the future seems wide open for Norsten: “The Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 are definitely a goal.”
Norsten, on Oct. 8 at CARSA, will be part of the rugby-themed 2024 edition of the Vikes Championship Breakfast, which has raised nearly $9 million for student-athlete scholarships since its inception in 2008. Providing the keynotes this year will be Norsten, UVic rugby builder Mike Holmes and Vikes women’s head coach Waters.
VIKES NOTES: The undefeated UVic men’s soccer team (4-0-2), ranked 11th nationally in U Sports, meet the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in Canada West action Sunday at 1 p.m. at Centennial Stadium. … The Vikes women’s soccer team (2-1) is in Langley on Friday to face the Trinity Western University Spartans and in Abbotsford on Sunday to play the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades.
