This was published 3 years ago
The Sydney Olympians who drove our beach volleyballers to the gold medal match
By Malcolm Knox
Asked what Australia’s female beach volleyballers need to win their gold medal match against the United States, Taliqua Clancy looked at her partner Mariafe Artacho del Solar, paused to think for a moment, and said: “Just each other.”
Clancy’s three words probably said all that needed to be said about the surprise packages of the tournament, who had just beaten Latvia convincingly in two sets, 23-21 and 21-13, to progress to the final where they are guaranteed at least a silver medal.
The Australians in action against Latvia on Thursday.Credit: Getty Images
In their previous match the Australians had beaten top-ranked Canada, and go into Friday’s final fully equipped and brimming with confidence.
Having grown up in Kingaroy, Clancy was no nearer the beach at Tokyo’s Shiokaze Park. Peruvian-born Artacho del Solar was raised on Sydney’s north shore. Where the pair might have felt more acclimatised than their Latvian opponents was in the infernal midday sun, after their earlier games had been played at night.
The Latvians, Tina Graudina and Anastasija Kravcenoka, wilted visibly after a tight first set and taking an early lead in the second. The Australians now have to repeat their show of stamina in a final scheduled for 11.30am local time (12.30pm AEST) on Friday against an American pair, April Ross and Alix Klineman, who dominated Switzerland in their semi-final.
As one of the 16 Indigenous Australians on the Olympic team, Clancy said: “It’s great to represent my people and show them that anything is possible. I never really thought about it when I was just an athlete. But now, what I’m able to give back to my community, you see how much influence you can have. I’m so proud of who I am and want all my people to feel the same way.
“My journey started from watching Cathy Freeman at the Sydney Olympics. As an eight-year-old, that was me. We want to inspire the future to become Olympic athletes.”
Artacho del Solar’s odyssey was very different, but it also started with the Sydney Olympics, the inspiration coming from the gold medallists at the Sydney Games Natalie Cook and Kerri Ann Pottharst.
When she was a young girl in Peru, she said, “my auntie was working with a company back in Sydney where they got invited to a breakfast where Nat and Kerri were talking about the Games when they won. My sister was the one that was playing volleyball. My auntie got a postcard from Nat and Kerri to my sister, saying, ‘Go for gold, follow your dreams’. When she gave it to my sister, I took a look at it, and it ignited that fire in me. I looked at the photo and said, ‘That’s what I want to do, I want to be on top of the podium, I want to be a gold medallist’.
“Years later I moved to Australia and I was the one playing beach volleyball and I met Nat and Kerri. And here I am!”
Pottharst and Cook win gold in Sydney in 2000.Credit: Hamish Blair, Allsport
To close the circle, Cook and Pottharst have been involved with the development of this Australian pair, who have made tremendous progress since not winning a match and finishing 19th in the Rio Olympics five years ago. “They saw that gold-medal mentality in us,” Artacho del Solar said. “Kerri is always pumping it into us, they’re relentless on it.”