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Tuesday Open Thread: Little Known Sports Stars

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Good Morning POU!

Today’s featured little known star is “the fastest man in Rugby”

Carlin Isles
carlin-isles-21

Carlin Isles (born November 21, 1989) is an American rugby union and rugby sevens player who is currently under contract with the USA sevens team. Recently, Isles was under contract with Glasgow Warriors of the Pro12.

Isles currently plays rugby for the United States national sevens rugby team. Isles had been touted as the fastest rugby player in the world.

Isles took up the sport of rugby in 2012. He was encouraged to begin playing rugby by Miles Craigwell, another crossover athlete from American football who ended up playing rugby for the United States national team. Isles played his club rugby with the Gentlemen of Aspen RFC, based in Aspen, Colorado.

during the Gold Coast Sevens [round/plate/final etc] match between XXXX and XXXX at Skilled Stadium on October 12, 2013 on the Gold Coast, Australia.
during the Gold Coast Sevens [round/plate/final etc] match between XXXX and XXXX at Skilled Stadium on October 12, 2013 on the Gold Coast, Australia.
Isles first caught the attention of the rugby media in summer of 2012 when Rugby Mag dubbed him “The Fastest Man in American Rugby.” Isles played for the US national developmental team Atlantis in July 2012 at the Victoria 7s tournament.Isles debuted for the US national sevens team in October 2012 at the Gold Coast Sevens as a second-half substitute against New Zealand, and scored a try in his first minute on the pitch. Overall at that tournament he scored three tries and was one of the leading scorers for the U.S team. Isles continued to be a regular scorer for the United States during the 2012–13 IRB Sevens World Series. Isles was quickly noticed for his incredible speed. A YouTube video posted on December 9, 2012 titled “Carlin Isles: Olympic Dream” further boosted his profile, as the video went viral and by December 23, 2012 has over 5 million views. The video closes with the words of long-time IRB commentator Nigel Starmer-Smith:

“I’ve never seen anyone that quick on a rugby field ever ever, XVs or Sevens. I don’t think anyone else has either.”

Isles may play for the US national team at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where Rugby sevens will be introduced as an Olympic sport.

In February 2014, he signed to play with Glasgow Warriors. He was part of the Warriors squad that won the Melrose Sevens in April 2014.  At the end of the season Isles decided to leave the club and concentrate on playing rugby sevens in the 2016 Olympics.

Consider these statistics:

  • Over 20 metres, Isles is 0.22 seconds faster than Usain Bolt.
  • Over 40 yards, Isles’s 4.22sec time, recorded by the Lions in 2013, is faster than any player electronically recorded in the history of the NFL Combine. (Rondel Melendez and Chris Johnson made it to 4.24sec.)
  • Isles’s one-leg vertical jump, of 42in, puts him eighth in the top-10 NBA players of all time (Michael Jordan is first, with a 48in jump; Kobe Bryant can only manage a measly 38in).