RIO DE JANEIRO — Jillion Potter came to the Olympic Games to play rugby, so she tried hard to concentrate on team performance rather than herself. But there were quiet moments in her room at the Olympic Village and on bus rides when she allowed herself to reflect on the sometimes terrifying obstacles she overcame to get here.
Potter suffered a broken neck in a game in 2010 that could have left her as a paraplegic, then survived a battle with Stage III synovial sarcoma (cancer) in 2014 that could have killed her. Now she is part of history: playing for Team USA in the first-ever women’s Olympic rugby tournament.
“Oh, man, I get emotional about it,” Denver resident Potter said here Sunday. “I’m proud to be here representing my country. I’m happy to be alive, and I just cherish every single moment, every single second, and really take it all in.”
The version of rugby being played here, called rugby sevens, offers fast end-to-end action in games with two seven-minute halves, two-minute halftimes and lots of crushing tackles. In the first minute of Team USA’s 12-12 tie with tournament favorite Australia on Sunday, American Kathryn Johnson blasted Aussie Ellia Green out of bounds with a head-to-head tackle that would have earned a 15-yard penalty in the NFL, plus a likely suspension and a fine.
Men’s rugby was part of the Olympics in 1920 and 1924, but the sport was booted out of the Games after the U.S. won the gold medal match in 1924 over France in Paris, triggering fights and riots on the field and in the stands. That was 15-man rugby. The version being played here has seven on a side, hence the name rugby sevens.
“The best game in the world,” said Potter, 30, who stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 174 pounds.
Watching Team USA Sunday was Potter’s wife of three years, Carol Fabrizio, who went through Potter’s cancer ordeal with her. Tears formed in Fabrizio’s eyes as she recalled how it felt to see Potter take the field for Team USA’s first game here on Saturday. Removing her sunglasses, Fabrizio took a moment to dab an eye, momentarily unable to speak.
“I’m never speechless,” she said, gathering herself. “I cried like a baby. When she ran out of the tunnel she had a huge smile on her face. This is really special.”
Fabrizio remembered a tough day during Potter’s first round of chemotherapy at the University of Colorado Hospital after Potter had a bad reaction to medication. Fabrizio called her father for some support.
“He’s usually very sympathetic, but he said, ‘Carol, when things are at their worst, you have to be at your best,’ ” Fabrizio said, sharing the story to make a point about Potter’s strength. “It kind of jarred me, and I actually was mad at him a little bit. I thought, ‘Thanks for the support.’ But then Jill showed me what that meant. The whole time she was sick, you could call that her worst, but it wasn’t. She was at her best every step of the way.”
When well-meaning friends brought Potter board games and puzzles to help pass time in the hospital that were targeted more at children, Potter came up with the idea to walk them over to nearby Children’s Hospital, making the journey while connected to her IV pole.
“Whether it’s making the Olympic team or getting through cancer, she always looks at every challenge like it’s able to be accomplished,” Fabrizio said. “But also with humility.”
On Saturday, Team USA lost to Fiji 12-7 and beat Colombia 48-0. The tie with Australia in the final game of pool play put them in a quarterfinal match Sunday evening with New Zealand, which they lost 5-0. Monday they play two games to determine their final placement.
Potter found the hardest thing about battling cancer was fear of the unknown, but she attacked it just like the bone-crushing tackles she administers on the pitch.
“I stayed positive and hopeful,” Potter said. “Honestly, that’s what the Olympics is about, right? It’s about hope and giving athletes that chance to represent their country and themselves on the world stage. It’s all about hope.”
