After her gold medal moment at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, 20-year-old rugby sevens star Jorja Miller was inducted at a ceremony in the Timaru District Council chambers last Friday.
Miller, who was born and raised in Timaru, was already World Rugby’s rookie of the year and the current South Canterbury sportsperson of the year prior to becoming the first South Canterbury athlete in 40 years to win an Olympic gold medal — which she did so as part of the Black Ferns sevens team.
Speaking ahead of her induction, Miller said Timaru had played an important part in her career development.
"Especially Harlequins. Playing there since I was 4 and my parents being a big part of the club was massive.
"Even when I moved to Christchurch for boarding school and now I’m up in the Mount [Maunganui], the Timaru community has been massive for me, always supporting.
"I just love being from a smaller community because it feels a lot more tight-knit, and you always know somebody or know someone who knows someone."
"To be alongside those big names and to be representing this community is very special to me.
"It feels a bit much like I feel I’m just the same kid from Timaru playing rugby outside, and now I’m here with a fancy event and everyone here but I’m very grateful."
Miller is now one of only eight women in the Hall of Fame, which was officially opened in 1986.
The most recently inducted prior to Miller was was trap shooter Natalie Rooney, who picked up a silver medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Miller also joins fellow Olympic gold medallists Jack Lovelock (1500m, Berlin 1936) and Les O’Connell (coxless four, Los Angeles 1984).
Miller and her parents were welcomed into the ceremony with a performance from the Roncalli College kapa haka group. Timaru District Mayor Nigel Bowen then spoke on Miller’s accomplishments and officially inducted her into the Hall of Fame.
Miller looked back fondly on the recent Olympics.
"[We] ended up with the gold medal so not a bad result. I think we went into the tournament knowing that we had what we needed within our group, so we had confidence and trusted that we could get the job done.
"It was a pretty tough final, but for me personally I felt that throughout that game I had trust in the process and trusted our team a lot [so] that there was never an inkling of doubt for me."
She said her first thought when receiving the gold medal was that "it was heavy".
"It was just a surreal moment to be up there with my team. We’ve worked so hard together, not just the the 12 that got to stand on the podium but the six at home, all the management and everybody.
"To be able to do that, wear the gold medal for our team, for my family and for New Zealand, it was special."
"I did say that I was going to go to four Olympics, so we’ll see how we go.
"I love the game [rugby sevens], just the way the game is, it’s how I like to play. I think it suits me as a player.
"I have a few goals, the main one outside of sevens would be winning a XVs world cup — I’m not really in a rush to do that one so just whenever the opportunity arises and it suits, I’ll put my hand up. There’s still a lot to achieve."
Miller said she was dedicated to growing the women’s game in Timaru.
"For me, I’ve got quite a focus on the high school girls’ rugby. I want to be able to help progress the girls that that really want to develop around here so they don’t feel like they have to move to Christchurch or move away.
"There is a lot of talent around here and they just sometimes need a bit more resources or facilitators and I’d be happy to jump on board and do something there."
