Attention: US teams tackling the challenge of ending an Olympic rugby sevens medal drought

The anthem played as Army officer Sammy Sullivan stood to attention, saluting, beside her United States rugby teammates before the final of the Hong Kong Sevens.

Sometimes, like all of us, her mind drifts. So no prizes for guessing another big occasion Sullivan may have strayed to: Paris in July, playing for an Olympic medal.

“I do let myself think about that sometimes,” Sullivan tells The Associated Press. “But for the most part, it’s so important to just try to be in the present and focus on the next task.”

The next major task for Sullivan and her Eagles teammates is a medal. It’s a collective ambition for U.S. players including Perry Baker, a two-time men’s world sevens player of the year.

Despite being competitive in the annual men’s and women’s world series, the U.S. hasn’t won an Olympic medal in rugby sevens since it was introduced to the program at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

At Tokyo three years ago, the U.S. teams crashed out in quarterfinal losses to Britain — the women despite topping a group that contained 2016 champion Australia; the men after entering the Olympics as the No. 2-ranked team.

Making amends for that is at the top of the list of Paris goals for Ilona Maher, the breakout social media star on TikTok at the Tokyo Olympics.

“We’re kind of learning how important it is to put yourself in the best position during every pool game, during quarterfinals,” Maher says. "We're doing whatever we can, because I think a medal would be amazing for us, for our program, and for rugby as a sport in the U.S.

“America loves success — they love seeing people win and that would bring more people to us.”

A recruitment theme is part of the process for Sullivan, too. Her father played rugby in the military, but Sullivan didn't pick it up until she started at West Point.

After being commissioned as an engineer officer in the Army, she was selected for a national rugby squad. That led her into the World Class Athlete program, which allows soldiers to compete in the Olympics as their active duty military job.

So that run to the final in April at Hong Kong, the spiritual home of rugby sevens, was an occasion to celebrate.

“I’ve always had a really strong sense of honor,” Sullivan says. "To salute and to show my pride for not only being an American but being an American soldier ... it does make me emotional.”

The Americans lost that final to reigning Olympic champion New Zealand. The U.S. women finished the world series in fourth place in the league stage, the highlights including the second placing in Hong Kong and third in Los Angeles.

Australia, the 2016 Olympic champion, won the series finale in Madrid in June to claim the women's championship, beating New Zealand in the semis.

The New Zealanders treated the Hong Kong campaign as a rehearsal for their Olympic title defense.

For the Americans, it was part of their tapering after using the event in Los Angeles, where the 2028 Olympics will be staged, as their major trial run for Paris.

“We didn’t have exactly the result we wanted with third place there," Sullivan says, "but if you think about it like a graph, that was one of our peaks and we’re only trying to grow from there.”

When she finalized the U.S. Olympic women's squad last week, head coach Emilie Bydwell said the goal in Paris is "to move the jersey forward, leaving a legacy ... and to deliver a performance that inspires American fans.”

For co-captain Lauren Doyle, that means one thing: “Gold is definitely the goal. And we do have things in motion to get to that.”

Baker has told and retold his story — turning to rugby after an injury derailed his chance of playing in the NFL — to promote the sport in America.

Leading into the Tokyo Games, an official website featured a story suggesting those could be Baker's last Olympics. Well, he just couldn't leave empty-handed.

“The want to have a medal and just knowing, like, what this team can do,” Baker says of his reasons for returning for a third Olympics when he's 38.

The men's squad was on a high before the COVID-19 pandemic, and it struggled for momentum on returning for the Tokyo Olympics.

“The team has changed dramatically," Baker says, “and I don’t feel like we have that pressure, like no one is expecting us to medal at all.”

The U.S. men dropped to ninth place in the world series and had to requalify in Madrid for the 2025 series. They went 4-0, with key wins over Uruguay and Samoa, who will both be at the Paris Games. To Baker, the rankings didn't reflect how close the American men were to the leaders. He believes they're Olympic medal contenders.

“If you go look across the board, we’ve beaten top-tier teams. We’ve been right there (but) lost close calls,” he says. “It’s just so much can happen at the Olympic Games."

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

FILE - United States' Ilona Maher, right, runs the ball past Canada's Keyara Wardley during a Canada Sevens women's rugby match in Vancouver, British Columbia, Friday, March 3, 2023.The main task for Maher, the breakout social media star on TikTok at the Tokyo Olympics, is winning a medal in Paris. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

Sammy Sullivan of USA in action during HSBC rugby sevens series in Singapore, on May 4, 2024. The anthem played as Army officer Sammy Sullivan stood to attention and saluted beside her U.S. rugby teammates before a gold-medal game in Hong Kong against Olympic champion New Zealand. No prizes for guessing where her mind may have drifted to: Paris in July. (AP Photo/Suhaimi Abdullah)

FILE - Perry Baker of the United States runs to score a try as he breaks away from Australia's Hayden Sargeant during the second day of the Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament in Hong Kong, Saturday, April 1, 2023. The US hasn't won an Olympic medal in rugby sevens since the sport was introduced in 2016. (AP Photo/Anthony Kwan, File)

FILE - Perry Baker of the United States reacts after scoring a try against Australia during the second day of the Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament in Hong Kong, Saturday, April 1, 2023. The US hasn't won an Olympic medal in rugby sevens since the sport was introduced in 2016. (AP Photo/Anthony Kwan, File)

FILE - Ilona Maher of USA is tackled by Sharni Williams of Australia in a semifinal of the Rugby World Cup 7's championship held in Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022. The main task for Maher, the breakout social media star on TikTok at the Tokyo Olympics, is winning a medal in Paris. (AP Photo/Halden Krog, File)

Sammy Sullivan of USA in action during HSBC rugby sevens series in Singapore, on May 4, 2024. The anthem played as Army officer Sammy Sullivan stood to attention and saluted beside her U.S. rugby teammates before a gold-medal game in Hong Kong against Olympic champion New Zealand. No prizes for guessing where her mind may have drifted to: Paris in July. (AP Photo/Suhaimi Abdullah)

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — When Hungary takes over the helm of the European Union on July 1, many politicians in Brussels will have the same thing on their minds: whether populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will use the role to further his reputation as the bloc’s main spoiler.

Orbán in recent years has seemed to relish opportunities to block, water down or delay key EU decisions, routinely going against the grain of most other leaders on issues like the war in Ukraine, relations with Russia and China, and efforts to defend democracy and the rule of law.

His public opposition to EU policies and stances has long frustrated his partners in the bloc and pushed him to the margins of the continent's mainstream. Hungary's motto for its presidency — Make Europe Great Again — raised eyebrows for its resemblance to the famous tagline of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

The EU presidency rotates among its member countries, and while the post holds little real power, it does allow countries to put their priorities high on Europe’s agenda.

Now, as Hungary resides over the 27-nation bloc for the coming six months, it will likely keep up its anti-EU rhetoric, said Dorka Takácsy, a research fellow at the Centre for Euro-Atlantic Integration and Democracy.

But the timeline of its presidency — beginning with a lengthy summer break and a transitional period of forming a new European Parliament and executive commission — will give Budapest few opportunities to derail the bloc’s priorities significantly, she said.

"These six months are altogether not that long, which means that ... Hungary cannot do potentially much harm, even according to the critics," Takácsy said.

As Hungary's takeover approached, leaders in Brussels rushed to push through important policy decisions while Belgium was still at the helm. On Tuesday, for example, the EU launched membership talks with candidate countries Ukraine and Moldova.

Orbán has vocally opposed and threatened to block Ukraine's candidacy. His government has also held up EU efforts to supply Ukraine with badly needed funding.

Yet with Ukraine's accession process already initiated, Takácsy said, the most Hungary can do now under its presidency is delay further steps toward its EU membership, a process that in any scenario is likely to take many years.

“All the meaningful steps from the European side regarding Ukraine were already done," she said. “(A Hungarian) delay, according to most European leaders, is already calculated and being taken into consideration as if it’s something which is most likely going to happen.”

Orbán has long been accused of dismantling democratic institutions and violating the EU's standards on the rule of law, leading the bloc's legislature in May to call for the presidency to be taken out of Hungary's hands entirely.

In a resolution, the EU parliament argued that democratic deficiencies raised questions of “how Hungary will be able to credibly fulfill this task in 2024.” Two years ago, the European Commission froze billions of euros in funds to Budapest over concerns about democratic backsliding by the government.

But some Hungarian officials have stressed that they plan to act constructively during their presidency. Last week, Hungarian minister for EU affairs János Bóka told reporters that “we will be honest brokers, working loyally with all Member States and institutions.”

“Carrying out the functions of the presidency is our obligation, but we see it primarily as an opportunity," Bóka said. “At the beginning of the new institutional cycle, we can initiate a debate and set the agenda on issues that are important to us.”

Among the issues that Hungary has prioritized in its seven-point program is the enlargement of the EU in the Western Balkans for countries like Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania through a “merit-based” procedure.

Budapest has also vowed to strengthen the EU's external borders and step up against illegal immigration, and to address “demographic challenges” that involve an aging population in Europe — two priorities that reflect Orbán's image as a staunch opponent of immigration and defender of family values.

But after years of campaigns portraying the EU as forcing unwanted policies on Hungary — Orbán has repeatedly compared membership in the bloc to more than four decades of Soviet occupation of his country — he may find it difficult to restore goodwill among his EU partners.

“The Hungarian government has been using the image of Brussels as a punching bag,” Takácsy said. “Now it’s somewhat difficult to communicate that for these brief six months, we are basically the Brussels that Hungary is waging war and a freedom fight against.”

With some words of advice for Orbán before Hungary assumes its role, the prime minister of Belgium said the position “does not mean that you are the boss of Europe.”

"The presidency means that you're the one that has to make the compromise,” Alexander De Croo said to reporters in Brussels on Thursday. “Being in the position where you have to make the compromise is an interesting position to be in at least once in your life, so I can definitely recommend it to Mr. Orbán.”

FILE - Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, left, arrives for an EU summit in Brussels, June 27, 2024. When Hungary takes over the helm of the European Union on Monday July 1, 2024 many politicians in Brussels will have the same thing on their minds: whether populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will use the role to further his reputation as the bloc’s main spoiler. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)

FILE - Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, left, arrives for an EU summit in Brussels, June 27, 2024. When Hungary takes over the helm of the European Union on Monday July 1, 2024 many politicians in Brussels will have the same thing on their minds: whether populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will use the role to further his reputation as the bloc’s main spoiler. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)