SPECIAL RIO OLYMPICS COVERAGE

Three pages dedicated to the latest developments in Rio

Osea Kolinisau didn’t want merely to win Fiji’s first Olympic gold medal — he was determined to do it by showing the world how rugby sevens should be played.

With his prime minister among the Fijians in the crowd, and knowing 900,000 other residents of the Pacific island nation expected nothing less than gold, Kolinisau kicked off a first-half barrage against Britain in the championship match by reaching back over his head to make a scoring catch as he was being tackled.

The Fijians, long recognized as the world’s best in rugby sevens, ran wild in a 43-7 win that showcased their fitness, finesse, physicality and famous one-handed passing.

“It’s a massive achievement to get a first medal for your country, especially a gold medal,” said Kolinisau, the mostexperienced Fijian ever on the international sevens circuit. “The achievement will be part of our history back home.”

After ensuring the victory that had been in the making since the International Olympic Committee in 2009 added Fiji’s national sport to the program for these Games, Kolinisau and his teammates huddled solemnly in the middle of the field and sang a hymn.

The deeply religious captain told his teammates before the match that it was all preordained, that they’d been gifted the country’s best chance ever to end a six-decade medal drought at the Games.

“It’s really emotional — to lead one’s country, especially to be the flagbearer,” Kolinisau said. “Coming into the final, I knew it was up for grabs. I told the boys, ‘We need to have fire in our heart, but have ice in our mind — be coolheaded.’”

They were smiling by halftime, leading 29-0, and the dominance wasn’t just with ball in hand. On defense, they didn’t let the British players cross the halfway line.

“When these guys are on fire, it’s very difficult to combat,” Britain captain Tom Mitchell said.

“They are very worthy champions.”

Leone Nakarawa created all kinds of trouble for the British players with his sheer size and brute strength.

He played a part in the leadup to a try for Jerry Tuwai, and came close to scoring himself before he was dragged down in a desperate cover tackle.

Jasa Veremalua scored to make it 17-0 and the Fijians scored again directly off the kickoff when Semi Kunatani gathered the restart and passed to Nakarawa, who sprinted across the line.

The Fijians scored twice more in the second half — the only blemish being Dan Norton’s try. It seemed as if they could break the defensive line at will, and the British players were powerless to stop them.

Ben Ryan, the Englishman who took over as Fiji coach in 2013 and applied strict discipline to mold a naturally-talented team into a consistent, professional unit, said it was almost perfect.

“We did say we wanted to show people the way to play the Fijian way,” Ryan said. “And we were great in that we delivered in fairly spectacular fashion.”

Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama thanked the IOC for including rugby sevens in the Games.

“We hope the brand of rugby we played today has justified inclusion of the sport,” he said.

“The gold props up little tiny nations like us. We don’t have the money and the bucks and support that England has — but we managed to beat them.”

Bainimarama declared a public holiday — probably unnecessarily, as nobody could work anyway.

“Everything stops back home,” he said. “Our productivity has been nil for the last couple of days, but hopefully the GDP will go up in the next couple of days.”

No 2-ranked South Africa won the bronze medal with a 54-14 win over Japan, which produced some of the highlights of rugby’s return to the Olympics with an early upset win over New Zealand.

It’s a massive achievement to get a first medal for your country, especially a gold medal.” Osea Kolinisau, Fijian rugby star