COC/Leah Hennel

Humana-Paredes & Wilkerson to be Team Canada’s Opening Ceremony flag bearers at Santiago 2023

When Team Canada marches proudly into the Opening Ceremony of the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games, there will be two athletes for whom it will be a truly memorable moment.

Beach volleyball partners Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson have been named as Team Canada’s flag bearers. They will share the honour of carrying the maple leaf into Friday night’s official kickoff to the 19^th edition of the Pan Am Games. 

“I was completely surprised and just overcome with emotion and stunned, almost,” Humana-Paredes said of the moment they were told the great news by Team Canada’s Chef de Mission, Christine Girard. “I think this is something as an athlete you want to do one day and you hope that you have the privilege of doing, being a flag bearer for your country.”

Santiago 2023 will be a homecoming of sorts for Humana-Paredes. Her parents were immigrants to Canada from Chile in the 1970s, when the country was under a dictatorship. Her father, Hernan, had been a member of the Chilean national volleyball team, but Canada could provide a safer and more prosperous life for his future children. The Pan Am Games mark Humana-Paredes’ first time back in Chile in almost a decade and the chance to be Team Canada’s flag bearer makes it “super special”.

“The fact that I can do it in Chile, which is where my family’s from, that my family will be able to witness it is extremely meaningful,” Humana-Paredes added. “This is definitely a moment I will never forget.”

While Humana-Paredes is making her return to the Pan Am Games after debuting in her hometown at Toronto 2015, Wilkerson, her partner of about a year, will be competing at her first Pan Am Games.

“I’ve never really experienced an Opening Ceremony, like a true Opening Ceremony,” said Wilkerson, who made her Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 where pandemic restrictions and the competition schedule were not conducive to her marching with her fellow athletes. “To be able to do this as a flag bearer and with the person I would want to do it the most with, obviously, is so exciting. It’ll just be a glimpse to everything we’re working towards but also everything we’ve already done so far.”

“I think I’m most excited to walk in when they call out ‘Canada’ and you can hear the extreme roar of the crowd, that always gives me goosebumps and Canada’s always just loved everywhere,” Humana-Paredes revealed. “It’s just gonna be a really surreal moment to walk in holding the flag, be the first Canadians out there and then have all of Team Canada behind us.”

The Pan Am Games tournament presents them one more opportunity to play together — something that is extremely welcome for the still-new duo in the midst of an intense Olympic qualification period which continues through June 2024.

Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson are currently ranked fifth in the world after just nine international tournaments together. The biggest highlight was the gold medal they won at the Beach Pro Tour Elite 16 event in Montreal at the end of July. They also earned bronze at an Elite 16 tournament in Ostrava, Czechia in late May. They have made it to at least the quarterfinals of every event they have entered, including most recently the Beach Volleyball World Championships in Tlaxcala, Mexico.

One thing that sets the Pan Am Games apart from all of those tournaments is the opportunity to be part of the larger Team Canada, something bigger than themselves.

“We really treasure that experience because we get to meet so many different other athletes, not just from Canada,” said Humana-Paredes. “I think it’s so important to share stories and to be models of different representations and different body types and different sports and different backgrounds […] United as one here, I think, gives you a lot of perspective and reminds you of why you are doing this.”

The duo joins an illustrious group of athletes who have recently served as Team Canada’s flag bearers at the Pan Am Games. Four years ago, at Lima 2019, it was field hockey captain Scott Tupper, who went on to win his fourth career medal at the Pan Am Games. He followed in the footsteps of Olympic medal-winning canoer Mark Oldershaw, who had the honour at home at Toronto 2015. At Guadalajara 2011, it was the future leading goal scorer in international soccer, Christine Sinclair, who led Team Canada into the Opening Ceremony, a decade before she became Olympic champion.

Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson are aiming to win Canada’s first Pan Am Games medal in beach volleyball since 1999. In the sport’s debut at the Pan Ams, Jody Holden and Conrad Leinemann won gold in the men’s event on home sand in Winnipeg.

The beach volleyball tournaments at Santiago 2023 will get underway on Saturday October 21. Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson will open play that day against Uruguay. They’ll continue pool play on Sunday against the Dominican Republic and on Monday against Paraguay. The knockout round starts on Tuesday, whittling down the field until the medal matches on Friday.

“We definitely would encourage fans to watch and support all of these athletes that are training day in and day out to represent Canada. There’s so many unique people and sports and things to learn from each other,” said Wilkerson. “Supporting us and watching this is one step to how we can continue to expand our minds and expand our hearts to the people who are really fighting hard to represent Canada.”

“I think the Pan Am Games is an incredible opportunity for a lot of sports to experience a multi-sport Games,” added Humana-Paredes. “I think it’s also really cool that these Games for a lot of sports is also their Olympic qualifier, so it weighs a lot for a lot of sports and a lot of athletes.”

How to Follow Team Canada at the Santiago 2023 Pan Am Games

Be sure you’re following @TeamCanada on social media for the latest sports updates and fun from Santiago and check back with Olympic.ca for daily recaps of the action.

@teamcanada

Olympic.ca also has a one-stop shop for all the key information you could need in our Santiago 2023 content hub. That includes the details on what Team Canada athletes and teams need to achieve to secure Olympic qualification for Paris 2024.

READ: Olympic qualification for Paris 2024 at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games

To watch the live competition, CBC will be offering four streaming channels on CBCSports.ca and the CBC Gem app every day throughout the Games, starting with Friday’s Opening Ceremony. These feeds will bounce around to various sports, with a plan to focus on Canadian athletes. There will be additional live feeds available for free via the Panam Sports Channel. 

CBC will have a primetime digital show hosted by Anastasia Bucsis, starting on Monday October 23. It will begin each weekday at 6:00 p.m. ET and air until approximately 9:30 p.m. ET, depending on the competition schedule.

For the three weekends of the Pan Am Games, CBC will have televised highlight shows on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. CBC Sports Presents will be hosted by Scott Russell and Andi Petrillo as follows:

• October 21: 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. ET
• October 22: 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. ET
• October 28: 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. ET
• October 29: 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. ET
• November 4: 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. ET
• November 5: 3:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. ET