Theresa Matauaina Setefano (''

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

'' Fitzpatrick; born 25 February 1995) is a New Zealand

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 ...

player. She was a member of the

Black Ferns The New Zealand women's rugby union team, called the Black Ferns (), represents New Zealand in women's international rugby union, which is regarded as the country's national sport. The team has won six out of nine Women's Rugby World Cup tour ...

champion

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

and

2021 Rugby World Cup The 2021 Rugby World Cup was the ninth staging of the Rugby World Cup (women), women's Rugby World Cup, as organised by World Rugby. It was held from 8 October to 12 November 2022 in Auckland and Whangārei, New Zealand. It was originally sche ...

squads. She has also represented New Zealand in

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 ...

; she won gold medals at the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens, 2018

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

in Tokyo and at the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

in Paris. She played for the

Blues Women The Blues Women (known as the nib Blues Women for sponsorship reasons) is a New Zealand professional women's rugby union team based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the Super Rugby Aupiki competition. They played against a Chiefs wome ...

in the

2022 Super Rugby Aupiki season The 2022 Super Rugby Aupiki season is the inaugural season of Super Rugby Aupiki. The competition commenced on 10 March between Chiefs Manawa and Matatū. On 20 March, Chiefs Manawa were crowned as the inaugural champions of Super Rugby Aupiki a ...

. Since her marriage in December 2023 she has used the surname, Setefano.

Early life

Theresa Matauaina Fitzpatrick was born on 25 February 1995 to Greg and Faalogo Rosemary Fitzpatrick.

Rugby career

2016

Fitzpatrick represents

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 ...

. She made her sevens debut at the

2016 USA Women's Sevens The 2016 USA Sevens was the third tournament within the 2015–16 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series. It was held over the weekend of 8–9 April 2016 at Fifth Third Bank Stadium in the Atlanta suburb of Kennesaw, Georgia. Australia won the tourname ...

. She was named in the sevens squad for 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 ...

2017–2020

Fitzpatrick was named in the

2017 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup was the eighth edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup and was held in Ireland in August 2017. New Zealand became the 2017 champions by beating England 41–32 in the final on 26 August. Matches were held in Du ...

squad and was part of the winning team of the

2019 Women's Rugby Super Series The 2019 Women's Rugby Super Series was the third series of the Women's Rugby Super Series, a women's international rugby union competition featuring the best-ranked sides. Unlike the previous editions of the Super Series in 2015 and 2016 which f ...

2020 Tokyo Olympic Games

In July 2021, she was a member of the New Zealand team that won the gold medal in the women's event at the

. On 3 November 2021, She was named in the Blues squad for the inaugural

Super Rugby Aupiki Super Rugby Aupiki is a professional women's rugby union club competition in New Zealand. Its inaugural season was held in March 2022. It is a stepping stone between the Farah Palmer Cup and the Black Ferns. Aupiki translates as ‘''the asce ...

competition.

2022

Fitzpatrick was named in the Blues starting line up for their first game against

Matatū Matatū is a New Zealand women's professional rugby union team that competes in the Super Rugby Aupiki competition. Matatū represents the South Island, specifically the regions covered by the Crusaders and the Highlanders. They were crowned th ...

, they won 21–10. She also started in their 0–35 thrashing by the

Chiefs Manawa The Chiefs Manawa are a New Zealand women's professional rugby union team based in Hamilton, New Zealand, that competes in the Super Rugby Aupiki competition. Chiefs Manawa won the inaugural season of the Super Rugby Aupiki competition. They w ...

in the final round. Fitzpatrick was named in the Black Ferns Sevens squad for the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England betw ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. She won a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games. In August 2022, she was selected in Black Ferns XV's team for the test series against

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 ...

for the

Laurie O'Reilly Cup The Laurie O'Reilly Cup is the trophy competed for by the women's rugby union teams of Australia and New Zealand. The two nations met annually between 1994 and 1998, with New Zealand winning all games, often by significant margins, as a result of ...

. She made the Black Ferns 32-player squad for the delayed

. She scored a try in the second pool game against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. Her second try came in the final pool game against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. Fitzpatrick also scored a try in the Black Ferns nail-biting semifinal clash with

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

as they fought their way into the final.

2024

After taking a break from rugby through most of 2023 she was named in February 2024 in the Black Fern Sevens squad for the remainder of the 2023–24 season. On 20 June 2024 it was announced that she had been selected as a member of the New Zealand Women’s Rugby Sevens team for the Paris Olympics. The team won the gold medal, defeating Canada 19–12 in the final to give both her and New Zealand back-to-back Olympic gold medals.

Personal life

Fitzpatrick undertakes medical studies at the

University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...

. In Rarotonga in the Cook Islands on 22 December 2023 Fitzpatrick married Ryan Quentin Setefano. Setefano played 166 premier games for Marist St Pats rugby team and was head coach of the club’s women’s team for eight seasons. In 2023, he was appointed the assistant coach to Wellington Pride women’s rugby team during their 2023 Farah Palmer Cup campaign. Her older sister, Sulu Fitzpatrick is a New Zealand netball international. The Fitzpatrick sisters both represented New Zealand at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Two of Fitzpatrick's uncles,

Olo Brown Olo Max Brown (born 24 October 1967 in Apia, Samoa) played 56 tests at a prop for the New Zealand All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sp ...

and

Tana Umaga Jonathan Ionatana Falefasa Umaga (; ; born 27 May 1973) is a New Zealand former rugby union footballer and former captain of the national team, the All Blacks. He is head coach of Moana Pasifika in the Super Rugby competition. He was granted ...

, were New Zealand rugby union internationals.

References

External links

* * * * *
Theresa Setefano
at the

Paris 2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzpatrick, Theresa 1995 births Living people New Zealand female rugby union players New Zealand women's international rugby union players New Zealand female rugby sevens players New Zealand women's international rugby sevens players New Zealand Māori rugby union players Rugby sevens players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic rugby sevens players for New Zealand Olympic silver medalists for New Zealand Olympic medalists in rugby sevens Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Rugby sevens players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players for New Zealand Commonwealth Games gold medallists for New Zealand Commonwealth Games gold medallists in rugby sevens Rugby sevens players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for New Zealand 21st-century New Zealand sportswomen Rugby sevens players at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Umaga family Rugby union centres Rugby sevens players at the 2024 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics