PARIS (AP) — Not even a tense tête-à-tête in the gold medal game could spoil the vibe at Paris’ biggest beach party.
Canada’s Brandie Wilkerson and Brazil’s Ana Patrícia got into a finger-pointing shouting match across the net in the tiebreaking third set of the beach volleyball final of the Paris Olympics on Friday night. The referee tried to keep the peace, but it was the Eiffel Tower Stadium DJ who cooled tempers on the sand by playing John Lennon’s “Imagine” over the PA system.
The players laughed and clapped. The crowd applauded and sang along.
Wilkerson was shown a yellow card.
The top-ranked Brazilians left with the gold medal.
“We‘re competitors and we are fighting for the same thing: There’s only one gold medal,” Wilkerson said during a post-match news conference in which the two laughed and jokingly put up their fists as if they were going to brawl it out.
“Immediately after the game, it’s all love and respect,” she said. “We bring out the best in each other, and I’m honored to play against this team.”
Ana Patrícia and Duda rallied from an 11-5 deficit to take the first-to-21, win-by-two 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 a joust at the net, Wilkerson and Ana Patrícia began pointing fingers at each other.
The second referee, the one at sand level, moved out to separate the two players, but Wilkerson continued to argue and picked up a yellow card. As the Brazilians got into position to serve for the next point, the DJ began playing “Imagine,” the late Beatle’s song calling for unity and peace.
The message resonated with the players.
“What a beautiful opportunity we have to play the finals under the Eiffel Tower against the best in the world,” Wilkerson said. “Like, that, in of itself, is a win.”
Wilkerson told reporters afterward that it was all a misunderstanding: She was responding to her family, cheering in the crowd behind the Brazilians, and Ana Patrícia thought Wilkerson was taunting her.
“We’re pretty amped up, partners are coming in, refs are coming in. So it was a bit of a mess,” Wilkerson said. “But after the game, and even right when they came to shake our hands, still on the court, there was an immediate hug and just kind of like, ‘Hey, it’s all good.’”
When play resumed, it took Brazil only five more points to finish off Wilkerson and Melissa Humana-Paredes, kicking off a party the sport’s spiritual home hadn’t seen since hosting the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games at Copacabana. In Tokyo, the country was shut out at the Summer Games 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 climbed to its top step.
With the Eiffel Tower’s strobes sparking in the background and yellow- and green-wearing fans singing and waving Brazilian flags, the country was awarded its first women’s gold since Atlanta. (The United States, which had won four of the last five, was shut out in both the men’s and women’s tournaments in Paris.)
After the medal ceremony, the Canadians and Brazilians — along with the bronze-winning Swiss — posed for selfies together. Wilkerson and Ana Patrícia spoke to each other and hugged; there may have even been an air kiss.
“It was a game thing,” Ana Patrícia said. “Everybody wants to win. But it happens. It’s everybody trying to win, but now everything is OK.”
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. That team was coached by Humana-Paredes’ father.
Switzerland beat Australia in straight sets in the third-place game earlier Friday night to earn 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 took the bronze medal, coming three years after Joana Heidrich and Anouk Vergé-Dépré placed third in Tokyo.
On the men’s side, Sweden was set to face Germany for gold on Saturday night, with Norway and Qatar playing for the bronze.
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