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    Rugby? Yes, Rugby

    Carlin Isles and his “rocket shoes” are making the U.S. an unlikely contender By Sean Gregory
    by Sean Gregory Jun 25, 2016 5 minutes
    Isles, who ran track and played football in college, attracted NFL attention. But he stuck with rugby to chase Olympic gold

    TEAM USA HEADS TO THE RIO GAMES THIS SUMMER with a chance to win something that would seem impossible for a bunch of Americans: an Olympic medal in rugby. Their cause has been bolstered by the rise of 26-year-old Carlin Isles, one of rugby’s emerging worldwide stars. But if the team succeeds, they can also chalk up an assist for YouTube.

    A month before the 2012 U.S. Olympic trials, Isles, then the 36th-ranked sprinter in the country, says he was searching YouTube for clips to help him hone his running technique. Then he stumbled across a video of a rugby player speeding downfield, converting a “try,” the sport’s rough equivalent of a touchdown. The clip showed the “sevens” version of rugby—a faster game played with seven players to a side, instead of the traditional (and more plodding) 15. And the field looked wider than a football field,

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