A dramatic Olympic run ended with silver for Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson.
The Toronto tandem lost 2-1 (26-24, 12-21, 15-10) against the world No. 1-ranked team of Ana Patricia Silva Ramos and Eduarda (Duda) Santos Lisboa of Brazil in the women’s beach volleyball final on Friday at Eiffel Tower Stadium.
Seventh-ranked Canada (5-3) won four elimination matches in a row after going a shaky 1-2 in pool play to earn its spot in the final. The Canadians are the first team in Olympic history to advance to the final after being forced to play a lucky-loser match for not finishing in the top two in their pool.
It also marked the best-ever finish for a Canadian volleyball team. Canada had won just one volleyball medal in Olympic history before Friday — bronze by John Child and Mark Heese in men’s beach in 1996. Humana-Paredes’ dad, Hernan, coached that team.
“There’s no one else I would imagine sharing this with, and it’s so fulfilling and it is the reason why we can hold our heads up high and proud, even after a loss, is that we set out to make history for Canada and we did that,” Wilkerson said, per the Canadian Olympic Committee. “We still have room to grow, so that’s very exciting. We’ll keep the positives, and learn from the lessons. I’m very excited about our future.”
It was the 24th medal for Canada at Paris 2024, tying the country’s record for a non-boycotted Summer Games set three years ago in Tokyo. Canada has several chances to break the record on the penultimate day of competition on Saturday.
The game got testy in the third set with the teams exchanging words at the net and an official having to separate them after Brazil took a 12-7 lead. Hilariously, game ops played “Imagine” by John Lennon in an effort to find peace after the argument.
Brazil, which went a perfect 7-0 at the Olympics, won a marathon first set after fighting back from an 8-2 deficit. Brazil finally finished it on its fourth set point after Canada had two of its own.
But Canada responded in a big way. Midway through the second set, Canada went on a four-point run and never led back. Humana-Paredes caused all kinds of trouble on serve for Brazil.
The Brazilians, now 4-1 all-time against Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson, won silver at last year’s world championships and bronze in 2022.
Humana-Paredes, with Sarah Pavan, and Wilkerson, with Heather Bansley, both lost in the quarterfinals in Tokyo three years ago before joining forces as a new team.
Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson were indoor volleyball teammates at York University early last decade.
“It was an emotional roller coaster, and it really tested our team, and it really forced us to have really deep, hard conversations early on,” Humana-Parades said of their Olympic run, per the Canadian Olympic Committee. “For me personally, it showed me that I don’t have to be playing my best volleyball to make it to an Olympic final.
“I can do the best with what I have that day, and I can rely on my team and my teammate to help me get there and I think that was really special to see… I think we showed a lot of people what’s possible and showed what pure heart and grit and the intangibles of the sport means.”