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 Patricia 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.
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