Ellia Tiriseyani Green (born 20 February 1993) is an Australian

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

and

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

player. He was a member of the Australia

rugby sevens Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...

team that won the gold medal at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

in Rio. He also played for the

New Zealand Warriors The Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as the Aucklan ...

in the

NRLW The NRL Women's Premiership (NRLW) also known as the Telstra NRL Women's Premiership due to sponsorship is a rugby league competition in Australasia for female players. The league is run by the National Rugby League (NRL) and is contested by ...

Early life

Assigned female at birth Sex assignment (also known as gender assignment) is the discernment of an infant's sex, typically made at birth based on an examination of the baby's external genitalia by a healthcare provider such as a midwife, nurse, or physician. In the ...

, Green was born in

Suva Suva (, ) is the Capital city, capital and the most populous city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rew ...

, Fiji, and moved to Australia's Central Coast,

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

with his adoptive parents at the age of five. His adoptive father was Polish and died when Green was young. His adoptive mother, Yolanta, was English and died of cancer in 2018. Green started

Little Athletics Little Athletics is an Australian activity program that involves modified athletics events for children aged 3 to 16 in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Northern Territory); 3 ...

at the age of six and excelled in sprinting. He spent 10 years in athletics, representing

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in the 100m, 200m and long jump at the World Junior Championships, until his cousins convinced him to try rugby sevens. First playing for Warringah at club level and going on to debut for Australia in February 2013.

Career

Rugby sevens

Green scored an 80-metre try against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in the three-match exhibition series at the Gold Coast Sevens, a match broadcast live on

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

. Green was recruited by the Australian Rugby Sevens program after attending a Pathway to Gold Talent ID camp in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

in 2012. Green was a sprinter, having previously represented

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

at the World School Games in

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

in 2009 and scored the winning try after the siren against Canada at Twickenham in the Sevens World Series in May 2015. Representative Honours include Victoria. Green was a member of

Australia's Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

team at the

2016 Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

, defeating

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in the final to win the inaugural Olympic gold medal in the sport. Before the 2020 Olympic Sevens took place, Green had been hampered by a knee injury for which he was not ruled out. Coach

John Manenti John Manenti (born 30 March 1971) is an Australian rugby union coach who is the head coach of the San Diego Legion of Major League Rugby (MLR). Manenti achieved coaching success in international rugby sevens, winning the World Rugby Sevens Serie ...

left Green out of the squad, saying: " t is thetoughest call of his career", adding: "

reen A rhyne (Somerset), rhine/rhyne (Gloucestershire), or reen (South Wales) (all pronounced "reen"; from Old English ''ryne'' or Welsh Language, Welsh ''rhewyn'' or ''rhewin'' "ditch") is a drainage ditch, or canal, used to turn areas of wetla ...

just can't run as quick as eonce could. Ultimately that's isweapon and strength are isX-factors and ejust wasn't producing that with any consistency." Green, on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

said: "The past few days have been pretty long and dark since being told I haven't been selected for the Tokyo Olympics." On 9 November 2021, Green announced his retirement from

. He finished his career in the Sevens Series Rugby Sevens competition with 149 appearances (26th), 94 tackles, 141 tries (4th), 739 points (6th), 90 clean breaks (10th), and 244 runs (27th).

Rugby league

In September 2020, Green, along with Australia sevens teammate Evania Pelite, signed for

NRL Women's Premiership The NRL Women's Premiership (NRLW) also known as the Telstra NRL Women's Premiership due to sponsorship is a rugby league competition in Australasia for female players. The league is run by the National Rugby League (NRL) and is contested by ...

(NRLW) team the

. Green was poised to sign for the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...

, however did not want to spend the four-week period operating under COVID-19 quarantine requirements in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. On his debut, Green scored a side-line try against the

Broncos A bucking horse is any breed of horse, male or female, with a propensity to buck. They have been, and still are, referred to by various names, including bronco, broncho, and roughstock. The harder they buck, the more desirable they are for ro ...

in the 8th minute. He did not score again, however remained a dangerous presence throughout the match on the wing. Green scored again in round three against the St. George Illawarra Dragons, and set up teammate Evania Pelite in a 10–22 win.

Personal life

Green lives in the

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

suburb of

Lane Cove Lane Cove is a suburb on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Lane Cove is nine kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the ...

. He has a daughter with his partner Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts. On 16 August 2022, Green came out as a

transgender man A trans man or transgender man is a man who was assigned female at birth. Trans men have a male gender identity, and many trans men undergo medical and social transition to alter their appearance in a way that aligns with their gender identit ...

. He did not change his name. The announcement made him the first Olympian to come out as a trans man. He retired from rugby to focus on his transition and said, "I knew I couldn't do

hormone therapy Hormone therapy or hormonal therapy is the use of hormones in medical treatment. Treatment with hormone antagonists may also be referred to as hormonal therapy or antihormone therapy. The most general classes of hormone therapy are hormonal therap ...

surgery Surgery is a medical specialty that uses manual and instrumental techniques to diagnose or treat pathological conditions (e.g., trauma, disease, injury, malignancy), to alter bodily functions (e.g., malabsorption created by bariatric surgery s ...

during my career". He uses

they/them Singular ''they'', along with its inflected or derivative forms, ''them'', ''their'', ''theirs'', and ''themselves'' (also ''themself'' and ''theirself''), is a gender-neutral third-person pronoun derived from plural they. It typically occu ...

and

he/him In Modern English, ''he'' is a singular, masculine, third-person pronoun. Morphology In Standard Modern English, ''he'' has four shapes representing five distinct word forms: * ''he'': the nominative (subjective) form * ''him'': the accu ...

pronouns.

Notes

References

External links

*
Ellia Green
at

Australian Rugby Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named Australian Rugby Union Limited and Australian Rugby Football Union Limited, is an Australian company operating the premier rugby union competition in Australia and teams. It has its origins in 1949. It is a ...

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Green, Ellia 1993 births Living people 21st-century Australian sportsmen Australia international rugby sevens players Australian adoptees Australian LGBTQ rugby union players Australian male sprinters Australian people of I-Taukei Fijian descent Australian rugby league players Australian rugby sevens players Australian rugby union players Australian transgender men Australian transgender sportspeople Commonwealth Games silver medallists in rugby sevens Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Fijian emigrants to Australia Footballers who switched code Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games New Zealand Warriors (NRLW) players Olympic gold medalists for Australia Olympic medalists in rugby sevens Olympic rugby sevens players for Australia People from the Central Coast (New South Wales) Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Rugby league players from Suva Rugby union players from Suva Rugby sevens players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Rugby sevens players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Sportsmen from New South Wales Transgender sportsmen