Rio 2016: Beach volleyball veteran Louise Bawden teams up with indigenous trailblazer Taliqua Clancy

LOUISE Bawden and Taliqua Clancy are officially on their way to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games where they will represent Australia in beach volleyball.

Taliqua Clancy and Louise Bawden show off their tickets to Rio.

LOUISE Bawden and Taliqua Clancy are officially on their way to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games where they will represent Australia in beach volleyball.

Clancy, 23, will become Australia’s first indigenous Olympian in the sport and Bawden, 34, is off to her third Games, 16 years after her first.

The pair, who joined forces after the London Olympics, finished the 15-month qualification period seeded 7th on Olympic adjusted rankings to easily secure the most direct way to the Games.

“Selection is very exciting and I feel very fortunate to be going to a third Games but the job is not done,” Bawden, who played indoor volleyball at Sydney 2000 and beach with Becchara Palmer at London 2012, said. “Seeded seventh is a good position to be in, but we are always wanting more.”

This will be Louise Bawden’s third Olympics.

Taliqua Clancy grew up 200km from the sea.

The Adelaide-based pair held match points against the world champion Brazilians in Hamburg last week before finishing fifth, providing more motivation for the final weeks of their preparation.

Clancy hopes her hard work and rise from top junior to making her first Olympic team will motivate other indigenous athletes to follow in her footsteps.

“I’m really proud of it (selection),” Clancy said. “I’m starting to realise how special it is for me and my culture. I hope I can inspire people to dream and do things that haven’t been done before.

“My family are really happy for me. They don’t get too over excited but they are pretty proud.”

Clancy left her hometown of Kingaroy in Queensland — which is 200km inland from the nearest beach — aged 16, and was soon part of the Australian beach volleyball program in Adelaide. She was part of the Continental Cup team format that helped Natalie Cook and Tamsin Hinchley secure their place at London 2012.

Clancy’s grandparents won’t make the trip to Rio but the rest of her immediate family, and some friends who are already travelling, will be cheering in the stands at Copacabana Beach.

Australia can qualify one more women’s team and a men’s team for Rio through the cut-throat Asia-Pacific Continental Cup Final being held on the Esplanade in Cairns this week.

The top men’s and women’s team at the tournament will book their spot in Rio, while the second and third placed teams get one last shot in Russia next month.

The selection of Bawden and Clancy takes the number of athletes on the 2016 Olympic Team so far to 189 from 19 sports, with an expected final team of around 400 athletes.