The Welsh flier will become the first British rugby player to appear at three Olympic Games when GB Women begin their campaign with a match against Ireland on Sunday at Stade de France in the opening match of the global tournament.
Joyce suffered heartbreak on her two previous Olympic Games where she returned without a medal from Rio and Tokyo after GB lost the bronze medal match on both occasions.
Having already experienced two Olympics, competing in her third Games is still a major thrill said the 28-year-old match winner.
“It still feels pretty special – I think going from one games to three makes it no different – the third one it’s just a special. I just feel really grateful that I get the opportunity to go and represent Team GB in Olympics again.
“When I was at Rio I was so young when I was there so I just took everything for granted and kind of was just there. I wasn’t really present in the moment, I was thinking we could a get medal there.
“Tokyo again was a little bit different as well as we had COVID so that obviously hindered a few of the experiences we could have but it was still such a good experience.
“But this one is very different in comparison of whether we’re going to medal because Rio and Tokyo was definitely somewhere we were expected to medal, we were expected to come top three but we didn’t so that was obviously really tough on us as a group.
“But this one we’re coming in under the radar and we’re not expected to medal, no-one sees us as a medal threat so sometimes it’s quite nice coming into a games with no pressure, with not expecting to medal so we have definitely got a different sense of excitement about us on this occasion.”
Australia and New Zealand have lifted the women’s sevens game to new levels, winning one Olympic gold each, while France took silver at Tokyo 2020 and could provide a strong challenge on home soil, along with the likes of the USA and Canada among others.
Jasmine Joyce-Butchers is one of two Welsh players in the GB squad, with Kayleigh Powell a reserve
GB have Ireland, Australia and South Africa in their pool so just getting out of the group in the first instance is the challenge, but one Joyce says the team are ready to embrace.
“The game against Ireland is absolutely massive for us we couldn’t have a better first game up,” said Joyce-Butchers.
“We played Ireland multiple times before and we played them in Rugby Europe as well. We have a real sense of confidence about us going into that game and support from home means absolutely everything.
“From Tokyo to having no fans in the stadium we could really feel their energy from home and I’m sure we’ll feel the exact same support and energy from back home when we are in Paris – a lot of us have got friends and family coming out so it will be really cool to see them in the stadium and feel their energy in the crowd.
Despite a tough draw, confidence is high within the group said Joyce.
“We are prepping and thriving at the moment in camp and in the gym in training, so I feel really confident.
“Like I said, we’ve got Ireland up first and we’re definitely going to take it game by game. We’ve then got Australia and South Africa in the rest of our pool games so we’ll just take every moment and every chance we can and hopefully come away with a medal.”
GB Women’s squad: Amy Wilson Hardy, Ellie Boatman, Ellie Kildunne, Emma Uren, Grace Crompton, Heather Cowell, Isla Norman-Bell, Jade Shekells, Jasmine Joyce-Butchers, Lauren Torley, Lisa Thomson, Meg Jones. Reserves: Abi Burton, Kayleigh Powell.
