PARIS– Brazil won a tense three-set final to win the gold medal in women’s beach volleyball at the Paris Olympics on Friday night, finishing off the Canadians after a one-on-one confrontation at the net that required the intervention of the referee – and the Eiffel Tower Stadium DJ.
Ana Patrícia and Duda recovered from an 11-5 deficit to win the first at 21, winning by two in the first set 26-24, and Canada won the second 21-12. Brazil opened up a 12-7 lead in the first-to-15 tiebreaker when, after jousting at the net, Brandie Wilkerson and Ana Patrícia began pointing fingers at each other.
The second referee, the one on the sand, moved forward to separate the two players, but Wilkerson continued to argue; she received a yellow card. As the Brazilians positioned themselves to serve for the next point, the DJ started playing “Imagine”, by John Lennon, whose lyrics called for unity and peace.
The players laughed and the Canadians also clapped in approval. The crowd applauded and began to sing along. (Wilkerson told reporters later that it was a misunderstanding: She was responding to her family, cheering on the crowd behind the Brazilians, and Ana Patrícia thought Wilkerson was making fun of her.)
And when play resumed, Brazil needed just five more points to finish off Wilkerson and Melissa Humana-Paredes, kicking off a beach party the likes of which the sport’s spiritual home hasn’t seen since hosting the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016, in Copacabana. In Tokyo, the country was excluded from the Summer Olympics for the first time since beach volleyball was added to the program in 1996.
Three years later, Brazil not only returned to the podium but also climbed to the highest step.
With the strobe lights of the Eiffel Tower glowing in the background, the Brazilians won their first women’s gold since Atlanta. (The United States, which has won four of the last five, was excluded from the men’s and women’s tournaments in Paris.)
After the medal ceremony, Canadians and Brazilians — along with the tanned Swiss — posed together for selfies. Wilkerson and Duda talked and hugged; there may even have been an air kiss.
Wilkerson and Humana-Paredes will return to Canada with the country’s first beach volleyball medal since the men won bronze at the 1996 Atlanta Games. This team was coached by Humana-Paredes’ father.
Switzerland beat Australia in straight sets in the third-place game on Friday night to win the bronze medal.
Nina Brunner and Tanja Huerberli beat Tokyo silver medalists Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar 21-17, 21-15 in 39 minutes. It was the second Summer Games in a row that a Swiss team won the bronze medal, three years after Joana Heidrich and Anouk Vergé-Dépré came third in Tokyo.
On the men’s side, Sweden was scheduled to face Germany for gold on Saturday night, with Norway and Qatar competing for bronze.
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