Canadian Ashley Steacy living rugby sevens dream in Rio

Canada's Ashley Steacy, avoids the tackle from Fiji's Talica Vodo, during rugby action at the Women's Sevens at Westhills Stadium in Langford, B.C., Sunday April 19, 2015. In recent months, the road to Rio has been spent in the gym and a training room for hard-hitting rugby sevens veteran Ashley Steacy. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito)

Ashley Steacy had to climb two injury mountains to get to the Rio Olympics.

The rugby sevens veteran first injured her knee in October, one of three Canadian team members to go down in the same training session. The 29-year-old from Lethbridge, Alta., worked her way back, only to suffer an anterior cruciate ligament injury to her other knee prior to an event in Sao Paulo in February.

Surgery followed along with many more hours of rehab. Amazingly she returned a month and a half ahead of schedule.

Some questioned why Steacy got her invitation to Rio after missing the entire 2015-16 World Series. Those close to the squad know Steacy is a world-class player who is part of the team's heartbeat.

And she has a history of coming back from injury better than ever.

After shoulder surgery sidelined her for six months, Steacy was named to the 2014-15 World Series Dream Team and chosen Rugby Canada's Women's Sevens Player of the Year.

"She's resilient," said coach John Tait, who counts Steacy as a key member of his squad. "She's the backbone of our defence and such a big important link in our attack."

Steacy was one of several members of the squad fighting to regain health during the year. Steacy, Britt Benn, Elissa Alarie, Magali Harvey and Natasha Watcham-Roy called themselves the "Wounded Walkers."

The Olympics served as extra motivation to get out of the training room.

"This is like THE year," said Steacy. "This is the last five years, the whole combination of everything."

All five made it back with Steacy, Benn and Watcham-Roy earning places on the 12-woman Olympic roster and Alarie and Harvey two of the four alternates.

Steacy admits to some "dark days" after the second knee injury, fearing her Olympic dream was over. She credits the team support staff and those around her for facilitating her return. And with a degree in kinesiology, she understood what needed to be done.

She singles out husband Sean for his help, saying she couldn't have done it without him. Much of that help was long-distance with Steacy in Victoria with the team and Sean at their home in Lethbridge where he manages an aviation support firm and moonlights as a gunsmith.

Steacy has come a long way since Grade 11 when she watched Maria Gallo and the Canadian women's rugby team in action in Calgary, thinking "I want to be her."

Steacy eventually played alongside Gallo, who now coaches women's rugby at the University of British Columbia. Now, she is helping make history as she represents Canada in the Olympic debut of rugby sevens.

"We're trail-blazing. It's such a neat experience," said Steacy, a pocket dynamo who took up rugby in Grade 10, falling in love with the game after scoring four tries in her first outing.

The Olympics are a family affair for Steacy.

Sister-in-law Heather Steacy will be attending her second Games as a hammer-thrower. Brother-in-law Jim Steacy competed in the hammer throw in London and Beijing where he became the first Canadian to make an Olympic hammer final in 84 years when he finished 12th. He recently retired.

Ashley's husband was a CIS champion hammer-thrower in Lethbridge and was on the national team. Sean's dream sport was the pole vault but he followed in his older brother's footsteps.

"Sean 100 per cent could have made it to the Olympics had he pushed for it but he did it because his brother did it. It wasn't really his passion," said Ashley.

So does dinner conversation around the Steacy table focus on hammer-throwing?

"Lot of sports talk," said Ashley. "They definitely love their sports."

At five foot two and 145 pounds, Steacy is cut from a different cloth. But she is tough as they come and is considered one of the top tacklers in the women's game.

Playing in the Olympics is her last rugby box to tick.

"It's literally the culmination of my career," she said. "Everything has been building up to this one moment.

"When I started out in rugby I didn't know this was going to be the culmination of my career but I just wanted to be the best player that I could be and be one of the best in the world."

A two-time CIS player of the year, she won three titles at the University of Lethbridge. She has represented Canada at the Rugby World Cup in 15s and won silver at the Rugby World Cup Sevens and gold at the Pan American Games.

She has also starred on the Women's Seven World Series where she anchors the Canadian defence and is one of the team's top kickers. In 2015, she helped Canada meet its goals: win a World Series event and earn gold at the Pan Ams (they had to wait until this year to accomplish a third goal of beating New Zealand).

"This year it's literally all about the Olympics," she said.

After the Games, she may set her sights on the 15s game and the 2017 Women's World Cup in Ireland. Plus she believes rugby sevens in Canada will "blow up" in the wake of the Olympics.

"I think you're going to see a lot of crossover athletes who are going to want to play come and sevens," she said.

As for life after sports, Steacy says she wants to find something she is as passionate about as rugby.