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Kish hopes the popularity of the sport in Rio continues once the Olympic buzz has died down. Canada won four of their six games in Rio, losing to Australia in the semifinal before avenging an earlier round-robin loss to Great Britain in the bronze-medal game.

One of the lasting images of the Games was Kish going into the stands to give her father, who battled cancer, a hug after the bronze-medal victory.

“My dad worked really hard to give me the opportunities I have today and to have him there and share that moment with him was the greatest father-daughter moment I could have asked for,” Kish said. “It wouldn’t be possible without him. He’s the support behind my success. I’ll forever be daddy’s little girl and to make him proud like that, it’s like the outcome of his hard work is me and my achievement and it feels so good to be able to do that for him.”

After the rugby competition, Kish stayed in Rio for a few days before returning home to little fanfare, having kept her homecoming quiet.

“I spent five extra days in the village, I got to see track and field, that was the only event I got to go to, otherwise I was swamped with media,” she said. “We were on a sightseeing visit in July prior to the Games and we got to do all the tourist stuff. So I didn’t want to stay an extra week or 10 days in the village when I could be at home relaxing with my family and friends and reconnecting.”

Kish will now take some time off before deciding on her future in the sport. Canada will have a bronze medal to defend in four years time in Tokyo, Japan.

“We have a World Sevens Series and we have five stops,” Kish said. “One of them is in Langford, B.C. I’ll be competing in the World Series and then I’ll take it year-by-year. People ask me about Tokyo, but it’s too early to say.”

Dvandiest@postmedia.com

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