Rugby sevens at the 2016 Summer Olympics

Rugby sevens at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad
Venue	Deodoro Stadium
Dates	6–11 August 2016
No. of events	2
Competitors	288 from 14 nations
2020→

Rugby sevens at the 2016 Summer Olympics was held in August in Rio de Janeiro. The competition took six days. The 2016 Summer Olympics marked the debut for rugby sevens at the Summer Olympics, though rugby union was last played at the 1924 Summer Olympics.

The usual laws of rugby sevens applied.

Though rugby has not been featured in the Olympics since the 1924 Summer Olympics in any form, the IOC chose to re-introduce the seven-a-side version of the sport for the games. The sport will feature for this olympics and the 2020 Summer Olympics.

The rugby competition took place in a temporary arena at Deodoro Stadium. The original plan was to stage the rugby matches at the São Januário Stadium. However this was scrapped because the club in charge of the venue missed the deadline to present its project. The Organising Committee considered Estádio Olímpico João Havelange, which would have had to have been shared with the athletics competitions. It was later announced that the rugby competition will take place in a temporary arena at Deodoro Stadium, shared with the modern pentathlon. In April 2016 concerns were raised by the World Rugby head of competitions and performance, Mark Egan, about progress of construction at the temporary 15,000-seater stadium.

Brazil men’s and women’s teams automatically qualified for the events. Qualification began with the 2014–15 Sevens World Series (men's) and 2014–15 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, where the 4 teams at the top of the standings qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games. In June–September 2015, each of the six regional rugby unions held an Olympic qualification event, where one team from each region qualified. The final spot will be determined by a repechage tournament. It will comprise 16 teams from the regional qualifiers: 4 from Europe, 3 from Africa, 3 from Asia, 2 from Oceania, 2 from North America and 2 from South America.