From a young girl with a passion for speed to a double Olympic gold medalist and one of the greatest try-scorers in rugby sevens history, Michaela Blyde’s journey is a testament to resilience, determination, and sheer talent. The New Zealand star has shattered records, won multiple world titles, and redefined excellence in the sport.
Women Fitness President Ms. Namita Nayyar catches up with Michaela Blyde, New Zealand professional rugby sevens player and double Olympic gold medalist.
She opens up about the heartbreak of missing the Rio Olympics, the mindset shifts that led her to back-to-back World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year titles, and what it takes to stay at the top of her game. Join us as we dive into the training, discipline, and determination that fuel her success on and off the field.
Awards And Honours:
- 2017, Canada Sevens Langford dream team.
- 2017, World Rugby Women’s Sevens Player of the Year.
- 2018, World Rugby Women’s Sevens Player of the Year.
- 2018, Taranaki Sports Awards Sportswoman of the Year and Overall Sportsperson of the Year.
- 2019, Australian Women’s Sevens performance tracker player of the round.
- 2021, Joint winner of Taranaki Daily News Person of the Year 2021 with Gayle Broughton.
- 2023, Member of that years women’s rugby sevens dream team.
After graduating she studied for a Certificate in Animal Care at Otago Polytechnic in Dunedin. In 2014 she commenced a Bachelor of Sport and Exercise through correspondence at Massey University. Her younger brothers, Liam and Cole were academy rugby players with Taranaki, Liam went on to be selected for a development project for the men’s Sevens team before playing for the Taranaki Bulls in 2021.
Representing New Zealand Women’s rugby sevens
Representing New Zealand Women’s Rugby Sevens
Olympic Games:
- Gold medal – First place 2024 Paris Team competition
- Gold medal – First place 2020 Tokyo Team competition
Commonwealth Games:
- Gold medal – First place 2018 Gold Coast Team competition
- Bronze Medal– Third place 2022 Birmingham Team competition
Rugby World Cup Sevens:
- Gold Medal- First place 2018 San Francisco Team competition
- Silver Medal– Second place 2022 Cape Town Team competition
Discover the resilience, speed, and passion behind her historic wins in our exclusive interview. A champion’s mindset unveiled!
Namita Nayyar:
You were born in New Plymouth, New Zealand. You attended New Plymouth Girls High School. From 2009 to 2013 you competed in athletics in the 100 meters, 200 meters and long jump. You started playing rugby at the age of five years, and joined local rugby club, Clifton. Alongside representing New Zealand you played for your school in the 2013 Condor Sevens, which was the first time New Plymouth Girls High had fielded a team in this National Secondary Schools Rugby Sevens competition. You were named Player of the Tournament and were also selected for the tournament team. This later propelled your career to the height where you have been at the top of the world as a women rugby player. Tell us more about your professional journey of exceptional hard work, tenacity, and endurance?
Michaela Blyde:
When I was first named in the New Zealand Women’s 7s squad in 2012, I was still at school so I was juggling the balance of training plus school plus homework. It was tricky but with the support of my parents I was able to graduate high school and still receive a training contract. But my love for professional sport started when I was 5 years old. I had a dream of competing at the Olympic Games and win gold in the 100m and 200m, so I would vision myself doing just that every time I competed at athletics track events. I also loved the feeling of getting fitter, faster and stronger so I would train after school either with my siblings and Mum at home, or have team sports training after school when I was playing football.
My parents are dairy farmers in Taranaki which means no days off, so I was used to seeing hard work every day as my parents epitomized what it means to work hard to put food on the table. They always encouraged me and my brothers to do the extras to make sure we were ahead of everyone else.
Namita Nayyar:
It is a dream for a rugby player to play in the Olympics. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, You scored seven tries in five matches, including in the final, which New Zealand won, earning you a gold medal. Tell us more about this spectacular achievement of yours?
Michaela Blyde:
It was the moment my 20 year old (at the time) dream came true. All the hard work that I put in to win an Olympic Gold paid off so it was a very overwhelming feeling, I immediately thought about that 5 year old Michaela who had a big dream and didn’t let anyone tell her it wasn’t possible. I had my ups and downs, non-selections, injuries, but I kept my goals focused on the bigger picture and just simply never gave up. But I also wasn’t fully satisfied winning a gold medal in front of no one due to COVID restrictions so I was also very hungry to do the hard work all over again to try winning another one in Paris 2024. I also felt like I didn’t play my best rugby so I was also very determined to be better physically and mentally for Paris.
Full Interview is Continued on Next Page
This interview is exclusive and taken by Namita Nayyar President of womenfitness.net and should not be reproduced, copied, or hosted in part or full anywhere without express permission.
All Written Content Copyright © 2025 Women Fitness
Namita Nayyar:
You must have a Coach who has been a catalyst who helped you pave the way to rise in your career with discipline and a never stopping attitude. Elaborate about his/her influence on your professional life?
Michaela Blyde:
Two Coaches have been a massive influence on my 7s career, Alan Bunting (who was head coach from 2016-2021) and Cory Sweeney (assistant coach from 2016-2021, head coach 2021-present). These 2 made me see the potential that was deep inside of me that I couldn’t quite see alone. They had true belief in me to be a frequently starting winger after the Rio Olympics (which I was travelling reserve at so missed out), and pushed me to extend my limits and push harder in my trainings. Their love for the game and our squad helped our team culture thrive into great places, without our culture, we wouldn’t be able to perform the way we do. That allowed me to also be confident in who I am as a woman and not hide from my authentic self.
Namita Nayyar:
What exercises comprise your fitness regime or workout routine you may wish to share?
Michaela Blyde:
7s rugby is a sport where if you lack something, you will struggle to play at the top level. You have to have endurance, but not just running endurance, the ability to make multiple tackles in a row, and then chase back, then run with the ball, then get off the ground. It’s grueling but it truly separates the best players from the rest. You have to have speed as there is so much ground to cover with only 14 players on the rugby field, so defensively you have to stop others from running around you. On the flip side you have to be fast enough to run around your opponents. To top it off you have to be strong, to be able to take a tackle, fend people and throw them off you so gym work is very important. We train all components while also fitting rugby skills in there. It truly is a sport that showcases all types of athletes.
Namita Nayyar:
How do you train your abs? One secret to your toned body.
Michaela Blyde:
Believe it or not, we don’t overly do specific core exercises as a lot of our gym work uses our core while doing upper body or sprint work. But if I wanted to add core into my gym work I love doing the basic sit ups and prone holds with weights. I always make sure I have engaged core when we are doing big lifts as this helps with stability and speed on the field. I am however very proud of my upper body strength, I’m not the tallest rugby player and is probably more on the “small” side, but I have shoulders that can tackle hard.
Namita Nayyar:
Do you take a special diet or have a strict menu that you follow to remain healthy and physically fit?
Michaela Blyde:
Rugby requires you to be strong, but also lean enough to run fast. So it’s important we are taking in a lot of protein to keep our strength, and carbs to fuel our body for endurance work. Lacking in any of those nutrients in our sport can lead to injuries. I take Athena Protein every day after my trainings because it’s delicious and easy on the tummy. I’m a proud ambassador for Athena and they have provided myself and some of my team mates amazing protein that caters for active females needs like extra iron and collagen. The Athena protein is taken with water rather than milk so it’s not heavy on the tummy after a hard training.
I love baked beans for breakfast in the morning with hard boiled eggs and toast, it’s been my go to breakfast for the last 12 years, and it never fails me. I try to aim for 5 meals a day (3 big, 2 major snacks) to keep my body fuelled and protected from injuries. I’m also someone who just enjoys being healthy and understands the benefits of eating good food to stay fit so I would only eat takeaways on special occasions. My work on is more water intake, I get so busy that sometimes I forget to continue taking sips of water throughout the day! So drink your water, people!
Namita Nayyar:
Five foods you absolutely love and five you keep to a minimum.
Michaela Blyde:
I love:
Baked Beans (every day without a doubt)
Roast lamb (I’m a country girl that needs her meat)
Any summer fruit e.g. peaches, nectarines, raspberries, blackberries
Ice cream
Chips and dip
To a minimum:
Blue cheese
Not a fan of olives
Hot spice
Silver beet
Mushrooms
Namita Nayyar:
You have glowing skin and gorgeous hair. Share with us your hair care and skincare routine.
Michaela Blyde:
Bless ya! My skin isn’t glowing all the time I promise you that! I have had my struggles with acne in the past, especially after the Tokyo Olympics when I was struggling with masks due to COVID and sweating a lot. But I like to keep things simple using Emma Lewisham products and using red light masks. I also get treatments from my Cosmetic Clinic to help keep my skin hydrated and fresh with all the sweating I do. But at the end of the day I’m all about who I am as a human rather than how good my skin looks.
Trust me when I say this, my hair is gross haha!! I wash it once a week; go to the hair salon twice a year and use basic supermarket shampoo. If I even remotely tried to keep on top of my hair health, I would be broke. It’s too hard when I am sweating all the time with training and playing rugby. The more oil and grease in my hair, the better it stays in a bun when I train and play rugby. I also use Slick Hair wax sticks for playing so my baby hairs don’t annoy me.
Namita Nayyar:
Five athletic leisure brands you love to wear.
Michaela Blyde:
I only wear Adidas as I am personally sponsored by them and they support all New Zealand rugby teams. We are very blessed to receive lots of Adidas gear at the start of each season and new boots to play in. When I receive a lot, or have old stuff that I don’t wear anymore, I like giving it to my family or to young girls so they have training clothes to wear. It makes me feel so good to have the ability to provide others with amazing Adidas gear; they are a great sponsor who believes in me as a proud NZ athlete.
Namita Nayyar:
Five travel destinations on your wish list.
Michaela Blyde:
Hawaii, Cancun, New York, Japan (to go snowboarding one day), and Switzerland.
Namita Nayyar:
During the Covid pandemic. Tell us more about a routine to remain fit in those challenging times?
Michaela Blyde:
I still had a structured training plan to follow while in COVID lockdowns and was only a 5 minute drive away from my local rugby club in Taranaki so it was very easy for me to continue training. The motivation was tested, especially because my team was preparing for the Tokyo Olympics but they were postponed due to COVID so we had to wait an extra year to play at the Tokyo Olympics. It was also fun training with my family and coming up with different ways to stay entertained. However I was staying at my parent’s farm and their days didn’t change as they still had to work every day so I was doing something with them outside of the house to keep busy.
Namita Nayyar:
What do you wish to say about the website Womenfitness.net and the message for its visitors?
Michaela Blyde:
What an incredible platform to showcase the powerful, inspirational women we have in our sporting world. It’s important we keep up lifting females who excel in their sport, as well as those who just love being active and fit. The more we continue to support these women, the more exposure we get to the public about our successes.
It’s not just all about the men anymore, we women are breaking the ceilings in what is expected of us, were exceeding those expectations and breaking records and becoming household names in the sporting world. So thank you to the visitors for supporting fit women, and for supporting women in general.
Namita Nayyar:
Advice and motivational words to the inspiring and budding Rugby Playing girls, who all are your fans and shall like to know from you for their climb to the ladder of success in the field of playing Rugby?
Michaela Blyde:
Never be afraid of showing your strengths and talents and be proud of being a girl that loves rugby. For so long rugby was a male dominated sport that females weren’t “allowed” to play. But now we are the ones drawing in sell-out crowds, we are putting on performances globally at international competitions; we are breaking records at Olympic Games.
Come be a part of that legacy, come show what powerful, strong girls can do on the rugby field because no matter where you come from, what size you are, rugby is such an inviting sport that brings a loving community together.
Namita Nayyar:
As a member of the New Zealand Women’s Rugby Sevens team for the Paris Olympics, during pool play against Canada you required seven stitches in your forehead after you made contact with Canadian player Charity Williams. The injury didn’t prevent you from playing in all of the remaining games. You scored 10 tries over the course of the Olympic sevens competition to make the second highest try scorer. One of your tries was in the final against Canada which was won by your team of New Zealand 19–12 to give you back-to-back Olympic gold medals. In sports like Rugby how were you able to overcome any physical or sports injury setbacks and what advice can you give to those in a similar situation?
Michaela Blyde:
Rugby is a very physical sport so there’s always going to be cuts and bruises involved. The stitches I got at the Olympics were never going to stop me from playing; believe it or not they didn’t even hurt! I have been lucky to not have had too many serious injuries in my career, my worst being a couple stress reactions in my lower legs due to stress and load. But they haven’t kept me out of the game for too long. For anyone going through something similar, it’s important to keep having goals in front of you so you can see progress in your recovery.
Celebrate each milestone like when you can jog again, to when you can sprint again, or do a particular lift in the gym. Keep everything as positive as possible so it doesn’t make you want to give up. But also acknowledge those times of struggle, they happen to everyone, it shows how much you care about your health and sport and that’s important.
Namita Nayyar:
Quote you live by.
Michaela Blyde:
“Never take criticism from someone you wouldn’t take advice from”
Being in the professional world of sport and representing my country, there’s always going to be those outside people who think their opinion matters on social media. I avoid those opinions and know who the people are that truly support me and my rugby, but also are the important people that I’m inspired by and learn from every day.
Namita Nayyar:
Tell us about a day in the life of “Michaela Blyde”
Michaela Blyde:
On a normal training day I would wake up between 6:30-7am, have my baked beans and eggs for breakfast. Then I would have 1-3 trainings in one day depending on the day of the week and if we have a tournament coming up. We always train on the field first around 9:30-10 am for a couple hours, recovery and lunch after, then gym around 2-2:30 pm, finish up around 4pm. They aren’t the biggest of days but we might have treatment sessions with the Physio at the end of the day, or go to the pool for a stretch. Recovery is just as important as the training itself so were almost recovering more than we are training. I’m a massive fan of red light therapy so I lie in a red light pod at least 3-4 times a week. I’ll have dinner around 6:30 to make sure I’m in bed resting by 9 pm. I like my sleep so if I don’t get at least 9 hours each night I’m grumpy haha!!
Namita Nayyar:
A message for your ardent Instagram admirers.
Michaela Blyde:
It makes me so happy seeing so many people enjoy and follow rugby 7s from across the world. It is such a fun sport that can take you to so many beautiful countries so the opportunities are endless. I’m still learning about how to utilise my Instagram efficiently so my followers stay intrigued and continue supporting me and my team. But I love showing what our days are like, my sponsors and ambassadors that are on board with me, as well as my very chill social life. I enjoy Tik Tok as well as it takes away the seriousness of Instagram and I can have a bit more fun on there. My dog features on there a lot! My content is very wedding focused as well which I’m enjoying, I got married in January 2025.
This interview is exclusive and taken by Namita Nayyar President of womenfitness.net and should not be reproduced, copied, or hosted in part or full anywhere without express permission.
All Written Content Copyright © 2025 Women Fitness