In the long and storied history of the UAE’s oldest sporting event, rarely has any player been quite as dominant as Maddison Levi was at last year’s Dubai Sevens.
The Australian powerhouse scored a record 15 tries across the two days of the women’s world series event. Her excellence was capped by a length-of-the-field try to help settle a thrilling final against perennial rivals New Zealand.
It used to be a quirk of Dubai that those two sides would alternate winning the women’s tournament here. But for the past five years, Australia have had a monopoly on the title.
It is no coincidence that run of success, which has earned the Australians the moniker “Queens of the Desert”, has followed Levi’s arrival in the side.
She was named World Rugby sevens player of the year in 2024, having been on the podium for two years before that.
It is no wonder she – and younger sister Teagan – were so widely sought after in Australian women’s sport as juniors.
They were courted by teams in various different codes, and Levi herself played a year of Australian Rules football before finding a place in the national sevens set up.
Stardom, it appeared plain to everyone else to see, was predestined. Levi herself, though, is not so sure.
“We did dance for 10 years,” Levi, 23, said. “Growing up, I wanted to be a dancer and travel the world dancing. And, looking back at videos, I don’t know how [her parents] supported me so much because I was terrible at it.
“I just wanted to be happy. I think it's funny because we talked to a lot of people that grew up with us and they said, ‘Oh, you guys were destined for success in whatever you did.’
“That's credit to mum and dad. They always were by our side, never pushed us to do anything, but were always supportive.”
Despite being so young, Levi already has Sevens World Cup and Commonwealth Games winners’ medals to her name.
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