Ruby's Olympic promise IL'L ALWAYS ACT FROM THE HEART

The hard-case rugby great shares how two sporting heroes taught her to be a humble star

-  Ruby Tui

Black Ferns star Ruby Tui was part of the team that took home the Rugby World Cup at Eden Park last year. The 30-year old famously gave her gold medal away to a young fan who had recently recovered from leukaemia.

Ruby has won the hearts of Kiwis with her sense of humour, dedication and openness about the hurdles she's had to overcome.

Here, she shares her first Olympic experience at the 2016 Rio Olympics, and how she and her team celebrated winning silver medals.

“Ever since I made the first Sevens training camp in Waiouru in early 2012, I’ve been like, ‘I’m not going to drink. I’m not going to screw this opportunity up.’

I’d seen Dad go down and many other talented sports people lose themselves to drugs and alcohol, and I wanted to give this other way of life a real shot.

It didn’t take long for the girls to stop pressuring me to have a drink. Actually, before long, they thought I never drank alcohol. Little did they know that drugs and alcohol nearly got me before I found the rugby. I promised myself, I'll drink if I make the Olympics.'

I made that promise with Tyla Nathan-Wong as well, but her bet was we had to win gold at the Olympics. True to her character, she stuck to her bet. But for me, that night we got to the hotel near the Village for the 2016 Rio Olympics, and the coach is shouting everyone, and I have my first drink ever with [Sarah] Goss, Portia [Woodman] and the teammates I've had for four years of going through all this s**t with them. It's a buzz to have a drink together, even if it's bittersweet.