Kenya and South Africa will represent Africa in the men's Sevens rugby tournament at the Paris Olympics, while South Africa will also represent the continent on the women's front, and hopes are high for a medal.
The Blitzboks, South Africa's men's Sevens team, were World Series champions in 2008-09, 2016-17, 2017-18 and in the shortened 2021 edition, which saw Kenya finish a record third.
However, the only Olympic medal Africa has gained in the sport was in 2016, when the Blitzboks claimed bronze. In 2021 in Tokyo they were knocked out in the quarterfinals by Argentina, despite easily topping their pool.
Africa's women's rugby has not yet reached a point at which any of their teams could be considered likely contenders for medals, though South Africa's Imbokodo are likely to provide plenty of entertainment.
Rugby Africa president Herbert Mensah is hoping that the presence of Sevens Rugby, and a medal, at the Olympics can help grow the game's popularity in Africa.
"I think that the question of the Sevens game itself provides that instant entertainment. It's like T20 in cricket and 60-metre or 100-metre dash, the exciting knockout in boxing or something in UFC," Mensah told ESPN.
"In all sports, you captivate somebody's interest for a short period and what the Sevens game does - even though it's been getting a lot more sophisticated these days - is that you do get a chance to show real excellence in there.
"South Africa have been on top for a long time and now we have Kenya back in the HSBC SVNS again. We saw them defeat South Africa in Zimbabwe last year [in the final of the Rugby Africa Olympic Games 2024 qualifying tournament].
"I think what the Olympics and other competitions are going to see is that it's not about watching out for Fiji anymore. It's about watching out for what Kenya can do, along with South Africa."
Admittedly, the Blitzboks, who are in Pool A alongside Ireland, New Zealand, and Japan, are no longer the force they once were. They have struggled to reproduce the heights they scaled under their most successful head coach, Neil Powell, who exited his role in 2022. Several of their best players either retired or transitioned to the 15-a-side game, leaving South Africa with a vacuum to fill.
Kenya's men had struggled similarly after 2021, but recently won promotion to the main HSBC World SVNS Series via a qualifying tournament featuring last season's bottom four SVNS Series teams and the top four Challenger Series sides.
In the 15-a-side game, several top players over the years were born in African countries outside South Africa - notably George Gregan (Zambia), Tendai Mtawarira and David Pocock (both Zimbabwe). However, no African men's or women's side bar the Springboks has broken into the game's elite.
Ghana's Mensah, who was elected into his Rugby Africa role last year and previously played for London-based Saracens before going on to chair Asante Kotoko - his home country's most historically successful football club - believes that the root cause of rugby's slow growth in Africa is lack of investment by governments.
Mensah said: "The game is growing, but not quickly enough. The bottom line of it, as we understand, is that sport is big business. [Rugby] Africa receives some $2.2 million a year sum-total - and that is to run a number of major competitions. It includes air tickets and air fares and staff salaries.
"Since coming into office, I'm trying to do things completely differently. Is it appreciated? I'm not sure, but certainly, to raise the bar and say the sport is big business - to get governments to commit the same way as they do for football.
"I've been in the world of football, so I understand that football tends to be a little bit more political for a lot of countries in Africa, but we're saying that in a sport with greater values - greater values for the kids and in terms of sharing, caring, teamwork - everything that you want your kids to grow up with; a sport in which you can have a 2-metre tall guy and a 1.5-metre guy, 160-kilo against 70-kilo, it provides something for everybody.
"What we're saying is: make it part of the national curriculum. If your teams are going to be travelling and playing, pay for their costs. Don't leave it like right now - we have to pay for everything ourselves and therefore the investment back into the game is incredibly small.
"You can imagine what that money does in terms of trying to run [tournaments]. So far, this year, we've already had the U20 tournament. We can only have four teams as opposed to a full [contingent].
"We've had the incredible women's tournament for the Women's World Cup next year in the UK. We've only been able to have so many numbers of teams participating. There isn't the money for a relegation-promotion structure within Africa."
Mensah was elected last year on a four-year term and the first Anglophone president since the establishment of Rugby Africa will be hoping to encourage greater investment into the sport, with a strong African showing at the Olympic Sevens potentially paving the way for a new dawn.
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