Paris 2024 Olympics bronze medallist reveals how ‘LEGO changed my life’

A USA rugby star who won bronze in this summer’s Paris 2024 Olympic Games has revealed how LEGO changed her life as an athlete.

Sammy Sullivan, 26, joined the USA rugby sevens team in France in July and took home a bronze medal for her efforts. But a quick peek at her Instagram page reveals her second passion in life: LEGO. One of her pinned posts is a video tour of her extensive LEGO collection, which encompasses sets including 10305 Lion Knights’ Castle, 43222 Disney Castle and 21061 Notre-Dame de Paris.

The athlete even gushed about her love for LEGO in an interview at the Olympics. “I’ve said this to all my teammates, this is a running joke for me, I absolutely love LEGO,” Sammy said in a clip she posted to her Instagram profile. “All I do when I don’t do rugby is build LEGO sets. So I just feel like, if we get a medal, I just want LEGO to give me a shout-out.”

“If I’m famous now, LEGO, I love you, I will do anything, any set you want me to build, I love you. LEGO, please. That’s all. I’ll build a hundred of them if LEGO wants me to.”

Sammy’s rugby career started at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, and she made her USA Sevens National Team debut in the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens. And while the LEGO Group has leaned into the psychological benefits of building in its own marketing in recent years, Sammy is living and breathing proof that it really does help under the right circumstances.

“I can’t say it enough, LEGO changed my life!” she wrote on Instagram. “Mental health as an athlete is one of the most important parts of the game and it’s so important to find an outlet that works for you. For me, that’s LEGO! As a professional athlete and Army Officer, I am on my feet and moving constantly so for a while I was stuck in the doom scrolling phase of coming home and just getting on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.

“That led to a lot of overthinking once I got home about mistakes in practice and nerves about making the next roster. UNTIL I was in a Barnes and Noble and saw the LEGO sets, they were beautiful and intricate and I decided it might be fun to buy a set. Now I come home from practice and enjoy a relaxing evening of LEGO with my partner and it’s quite literally changed how I feel on and off the pitch!”

Sammy’s love of LEGO followed her to France not only in jokes between her teammates, but quite literally too: while the opening ceremony was underway, she was very appropriately piecing together LEGO Architecture 21044 Paris. At this stage, there’s probably not much more she can do to earn a shout-out from the LEGO Group.

She isn’t the only athlete to unwind using LEGO, though. Other notable entrants in the AFOL (Athletic Fan of LEGO) category include American footballer Rodrigo Blankenship, tennis superstar Iga Swiatek, Norwegian track sportsman Karsten Warholm and this year’s Wimbledon Women’s Singles Champion Barbora Krejcikova.

Featured image: Sammy Sullivan

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Author Profile

Chris Wharfe

I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.

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