Jazmin Hotham

Jazmin Felix-Hotham (born 2 July 2000) is a New Zealand rugby sevens player. She plays for the Black Ferns Sevens and represents Waikato provincially. Felix-Hotham was a member of the New Zealand Women's Sevens team when they won a gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Early life Felix-Hotham was born on 2 July 2000 in Henderson, Auckland, to teachers Diane and Nigel Hotham. Nigel played representative touch for New Zealand, while Diane had played at the same level for Samoa. She has four siblings, a sister and three brothers.

She grew up in Hamilton. Her father remembers that “When Jaz was a little girl, she had two dreams. One was to go to the Olympics; the other was to go to Paris." New Zealand sevens players Shiray Kaka, Manaia Nuku, Terina Te Tamaki, Kelsey Teneti, and Tenika Willison have also attended the same school.

When she was in Year 10 she was asked to try out for the school's rugby sevens team that was intending to travel to Japan. She applied herself to learning the game and found that she loved it, specially as it provided her with the opportunity to travel to another country. In December 2016 alongside Ayesha Leti-liga and Alena Saili she was a member of the New Zealand Condors team that defeated New Zealand Wasps 22-7, Samoa: 34-0 and Australia: 19-5 in group play and then against the New Zealand Wasps 19-12 in the final to win the inaugural World School Sevens (now called the Global Youth Sevens). She scored a try in every game of the tournament

In 2017, she helped her school win the National Condors title. This followed this up by being selected for the New Zealand U17 Girls Sevens team alongside Dhys Faleafaga, Mahina Paul and Risi Pouri-Lane that competed in the World Schools Sevens tournament on 16 December 2017 in Auckland, alongside the New Zealand U18 team. The U17 team made the final against Australia in which she scored two tries, the second famously giving the team a last gasp 20-19 win. Among those playing in the Australian team were Madison Ashby, Courtney Hodder, Faith Nathan and Sariah Paki.

Her performances in 2017 was sufficient for Felix-Hotham while still attending high school where she was deputy girl to be given a development contract with the Black Ferns Sevens team.

Hotham was initially chosen to captain the New Zealand girls’ sevens team to the 2018 Youth Olympics, but was ruled out due to a shoulder injury she received while playing representative rugby.

2020–2021 Hotham made her international debut for the Black Ferns sevens in the semi-final against France at the 2020 Sydney Women's Sevens. She was named as a travelling reserve for the 2021 Olympics squad in Tokyo.

2022 Hotham was named in the Black Ferns squad for the 2022 Sevens Series. She made the Black Ferns Sevens squad for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. She won a bronze medal at the event. She later won a silver medal at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Cape Town.

2024 Paris Olympics On 20 June 2024 it was announced that she had been selected as a member of the New Zealand Women’s Rugby Sevens team for the Paris Olympics. Felix-Hotham scored four tries over the course of the Olympic sevens competition and won a gold medal after the New Zealand team triumphed against Canada in the final, 19-12.

After the Olympics she had a six week long holiday in Europe. The season saw her score her 50th try in the Sevens competition. Fellow New Zealanders Claudia Broomfield and Danii Mafoe were also in the team. Other New Zealanders who have previously played for the club include Renee Holmes, Cheyelle Robins-Reti, Kendra Reynolds, Kennedy Simon, Stacey Waaka and Tenika Willison.

Personal life Felix-Hotham is of Samoan and Fijian descent.