The women’s beach volleyball gold medal match for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris is scheduled for Friday, August 9 at Champ de Mars. Brazil’s Ana Patricia Silva Ramos and Eduarda “Duda” Santos Lisboa will take on Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson of Canada. There’s no doubt that the boisterous arena will remain full of thunderous applause for both teams.
The Australian silver medalists from Tokyo 2020, Mariafe Artacho Del Solar and Taliqua Clancy, will compete against Tanja Hüeberli and Nina Brunner of Switzerland in the bronze medal match.
Canada moves on to its first-ever gold medal match at the Olympics.
Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson of Canada have already secured their nation’s first-ever Olympic medal in women’s beach volleyball (the men, under the guidance of Humana-Paredes’ father, earned bronze in the sport’s debut in Atlanta in 1996).
Playing with different partners, both women had strong performances at Tokyo 2020, making it to the quarterfinals. When they teamed up in 2022, it was their best Olympic performance to date.
After a fierce semifinal victory over the Hüberli and Brunner team of Switzerland, where the Swiss took the first set 21-14 before the Canadians rallied to win the next two sets 22-20, 15-12, to secure their spot in the gold medal match.
“I don’t think we played great volleyball, but we didn’t let it go,” Humana-Paderes remarked. We weren’t going to allow it to escape our control. There’s a feeling of rejuvenation, and at that point, anybody could play.
“I don’t think we’ve played our best volleyball yet,” she continued, referring to the upcoming medal match against Brazil. I believe it’s inside, and maybe we can extract it tomorrow.
“There is still more we can provide, and there is still stuff in the tank.”
Brazil, ranked first, is prepared to fulfill its dreams.
At the 2014 Youth Olympic Games, Silva Ramos and Brazil’s Santos Lisboa formed a brief winning combination that resulted in a gold medal. With different playing partners, they both participated in Tokyo 2020; Ramos lost in the quarterfinals and Lisboa in the round of 16. They teamed up shortly after in 2022. They are currently the top-ranked team in the world and have a chance to win either the silver or the gold.
The two narrowly defeated the Australians who had won silver in Tokyo in the thrilling semi-finals match. Brazilians rallied to win the second set 21-15 after the Australians had an early 22-20 lead. In the tiebreaker, Brazil won the final set 15-12, setting a match-high rally for the Brazilians.
As Santos Lisboa advanced to the final, he said, “It is a dream. 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’s still not the gold, but if God wants it to be.” To tell the truth, I have never in my life imagined anything like this.
Women’s beach volleyball medal matchups on Friday, 9 August
Gold: Brazil vs. Canada
Bronze: Switzerland vs. Australia
