The Fiji Sevens men's side are heading to Chile to fine-tune their preparations ahead of taking part in the Rio Olympics.
Ben Ryan's side will go to the Games as favourites to lift the men's sevens title as the short-form of the sport makes its debut appearance in the Olympics. Although they took the World Sevens Series, Ryan is leaving no stone unturned as he seeks to get his team in prime physical condition and has taken them to Santiago, Chile, to acclimatise ahead of the Games which start for the men on Aug. 9.
"Chile is 3,900 metres above sea level that's enough to get some returns, that means your body gets used to training with less oxygen so when you go back down sea level you get more options," Ryan said in the Fiji Sun.
"You get a boost, you feel a lot fitter, you not short of breath so we are going to be using that with some hard training sessions, some acclimatisation to the time zones because they are the same and we make sure we stay a little bit away from the bubble of Rio.
This doesn't happen every time I get on a plane! #RioBound http://pic.twitter.com/zBgXHJbZ68
— Ben Ryan Fiji 7s (@benjaminryan) July 26, 2016
"We don't go in till the night before the opening ceremony. We only have two training sessions and a gym session in Rio. Obviously we get used to the travelling to the stadium, the environment, where we are sleeping and all that sort of things.
"And then it will be our final, sought of icing on the cake before we go onto the field against Brazil on our first day."
Fiji's main rivals for the sevens crown are likely to be New Zealand and their coach Sir Gordon Tietjens says while he is still weighing up his first-choice line-up, they want to start the pool stages with a bang.
"The very first two games we have, against Japan and Kenya, will certainly give us a really good indication and also build a lot of confidence within the side," Tietjens said on TVNZ. "We've got to start really, really well -- that's very important to us."
Fiji Sevens head to Chile for pre-Rio camp
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