Name: Ashleigh Orchard
Event: Rugby sevens
Age: 32
Ulster's Ashleigh Orchard returned to the sevens squad in May after giving birth to daughter Arabella 11 months ago. Orchard has had a five-year break from the game due to injury but had made 87 appearances for the sevens side before returning this year.
Her last sevens appearance was in 2018 and she chipped in with a try on her first game back this year in the Singapore sevens series.
Orchard was part of Ireland XVs' Grand Slam win in 2013 and that famous victory over the Black Ferns in 2014, Ashleigh has played in four World Cups (two XVs, two Sevens).
The sevens side won their first world tournament at the SVNS Series Cup in Perth in January of this year which bodes well for momentum going into the Olympic Games. The side finished sixth at the SVNS Grand Final in Madrid in June.
Speaking with RTÉ' Sport last month, Orchard describes her reaction to getting the phone call that she was on the squad: "I think I started shaking, and I didn't cry or anything, but I was just sitting on my chair shaking whenever he [Temple-Jones] told me.
"When I was younger, I was obsessed with the Olympics. I really was obsessed, that’s all I wanted to do. I used to swim so in my head I was like, 'I want to swim in the Olympics’, but I was too short and had tiny feet.
"So this is kind of this complete bonus. Like honestly, I just want to get there."
