Australia Captain Ed Jenkins Commits Beyond Rio Olympics
Australia's Ed Jenkins (L) is tackled by France's Virimi Vakatawa during the second day of the three-day Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament, as part of the Sevens World Series, in Hong Kong March 29, 2014. Reuters/Tyrone Siu

The Australian national rugby sevens team has received good news ahead of the Olympic games as team captain Ed Jenkins is re-signing for another two years.

News.com.au reports that Jenkins has signed a new contract this week that extends his run with the team and allows him to participate in the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Jenkins said that family was “a big factor” in his decision to an extension with the team.

“Looking at where we are, with a new coach in Andy Friend and what he has brought to the side, it just didn’t feel right to leave the team straight after the Olympics,” he said.

Jenkins, 30, is looking to play in the third Commonwealth Games, to be held in Australia.

“Hopefully, the body holds together and that would be a nice way to go out.”

Jenkins is a purebred athlete and he credits his longevity to the management of Aussie sevens S&C coach Nick Poulos.

Any celebration, though, of his extension has been muted after the team was put through a hellish fitness camp in the Darwin heat last week as part of the preparation for the Rio Olympics.

According to The Daily Telegraph, the team trained under temperatures ranging from 30 degrees and 35 degrees.

The team also had just one day off in a nine-day block with each day providing a new shade of pain.

Darwin’s scorching climate is the reason it's chosen for the training camp, as the heat training is increasingly being used by athletes to increase their plasma volume.

Jenkins said that the heat training benefits them more than the altitude training. The benefits they get from training under the heat tend to stay for weeks, even months compared to the altitude benefits.

He said the training benefits should carry them through to Rio.