Paris 2024 women’s beach volleyball: Final preview as Brazil take on Canada for Olympic title
The Olympic Games Paris 2024 women's beach volleyball gold medal match is set for Friday, 9 August at Champ de Mars with Brazil’s Ana Patricia Silva Ramos and Eduarda ‘Duda’ Santos Lisboa versus Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson. No doubt the raucous venue will continue to be filled with roaring cheers for both sides.
The bronze medal match willl see the Australian silver medallists from Tokyo 2020 Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho Del Solar against the Swiss duo of Tanja Hüeberli and Nina Brunner.
Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson of Team Canada celebrate after defeating Team Switzerland in the women's beach volleyball semi-final
Canada advances into first-ever Olympic gold medal match
Canada’s Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson have already guaranteed their country’s first-ever Olympic medal in women’s beach volleyball (the men earned bronze with the sport’s debut at Atlanta 1996, coached by Humana-Paredes’ father).
Both women had good showings at Tokyo 2020 playing with different partners and advancing into the quarterifinals. They joined together in 2022, and this marks both of their Olympic best.
They advanced into the gold medal match after a hard fought semi-final win against the Switzerland team of Hüberli and Brunner that saw the Swiss win the first set 21-14, with the Canadians fighting back to win the next two sets 22-20, 15-12.
Humana-Paderes said: “I don’t think we played great volleyball, but we didn’t let it go. We weren’t going to let it slip out of our hands. You feel a sense of renewal, and it was anyone’s game at that point.”
Looking ahead to the medal match against Brazil, she added: “I don’t think we’ve played our best volleyball yet. I think it’s somewhere inside and hopefully tomorrow we can bring it out.
“There’s still stuff left in the tank and there’s more we can give.”
Eduarda Santos Lisboa and Ana Patricia Silva Ramos of Team Brazil celebrate after beating Team Australia in the women's beach volleyball semi-final
No. 1-ranked Brazil ready to realise their dreams
Brazil’s Santos Lisboa first teamed up with Silva Ramos at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games, a short-lived pairing that saw them win the gold medal. They both competed at Tokyo 2020 with different playing partners - Lisboa was eliminated in the round of 16 and Ramos in the quarter-finals. Shortly thereafter they joined forces in 2022. Now they are the No. 1-ranked team in the world and in a position to take home the silver or the gold.
The dramatic semi-finals match saw the duo narrowly defeat the Tokyo silver medallists from Australia. The Australians took an early lead in the first set 22-20 but were unable to hold off the Brazilians, who fought back to win the second set 21-15, the tiebreaker saw a match-highlight rally with Brazil winning the final set 15-12.
“It is a dream,” said Santos Lisboa on advancing into the final, “a dream we have been fighting for since the beginning (of our partnership) and I don't even know what to say.”
Silva Ramos said: “It is still not the gold, but if God wants, it will be. This is something I have never imagined in my whole life, to be really honest with you.”
Women's beach volleyball medal matchups on Friday, 9 August
Gold: Brazil vs. Canada
Bronze: Switzerland vs. Australia