COC/Leah Hennel

“Our goal is to create a legacy for Canada”: Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson reflect on historic Paris 2024 performance one year later

The screams. The hugs. The joy. The history. 

One year ago at Paris 2024, Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson’s silver medal cemented them as the first Canadian women to ever win an Olympic medal in beach volleyball.

Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson took Team Canada and their fans on a rollercoaster of emotions throughout the Olympic tournament. 

“There were a lot of highs and lows emotionally,” Wilkerson said of their Paris experience. “There were some moments of intensity and situations that we never thought we were going to be in. We were truly being faced with some deep fears head on [and had to ask ourselves]: how will we respond to something that scares us?” 

The duo finished the preliminary phase with one win and two losses, which forced them into a lucky loser match-up against Czechia to remain in the tournament. The Canadians not only won that match, but pulled off a huge upset win in the round of 16 to eliminate the number two ranked American duo and secure their place in the quarterfinals.

In those quarterfinals, the Canadians found themselves up against a Swiss team that hadn’t yet dropped a single set in Paris. After falling in the first set, Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson refused to give up, narrowly winning the second set, and then claiming the third to qualify for the gold medal match.

“Winning that semifinal in such an epic way was such a moment of deep, deep joy and fulfillment. Seeing Melissa run across the court and then just hug and cry over making what felt like history, you know?” Wilkerson recalled.

For Humana-Paredes, equally special to parading with their medals in Champions Park in front of the Eiffel Tower were all the small moments of the Games—taste testing desserts in the athlete cafeteria and playing silly games to bond with the rest of Team Canada. Someone caught the reactions of their coaches when they won that semifinal, and Humana-Paredes can’t watch it without getting emotional.

“The team behind the team, they don’t get a lot of air time. They’re not out there, but they’re so invested in our journey,” said Humana-Paredes.

Room to grow together

One of the most impressive things about Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson’s Paris performance is that they achieved it as a relatively new partnership.

While the duo were teammates during their undergrads at York University years ago, they both competed at their first Olympic Games with other partners. At Tokyo 2020, Humana-Paredes played alongside Sarah Pavan, while Wilkerson competed with Heather Bansley. Both teams finished tied for fifth—results that, at the time, were Canada’s best ever Olympic finishes in women’s beach volleyball.

Just over a year before Paris 2024, Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson teamed up to form a formidable duo on the sand, one built on a foundation of their obvious respect and appreciation for one another as athletes, and as friends. And both of them firmly believe that the longer they play together, the better they’ll get.

“It’s exciting to mature more and still have so much fun together,” said Wilkerson.

“I feel like there’s a lot that we still have to uncover,” added Humana-Paredes. “In Paris, we were still pretty fresh in our partnership and didn’t have a lot of time to work on things and prepare. So now we’re really taking our time.”

The big goal for this season is the world championships, taking place in Australia in November. But Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson’s focus is ultimately on the long game, leading towards Los Angeles 2028.

“We’re definitely going for gold,” said Humana-Paredes. “That being said, while we’ve got our sights set on a certain colour, we know that our journey is so much more meaningful than that.”

Not just results, but also values  

Part of the reason that Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson are so easy to cheer for is because it’s not just the result that matters to them, but how they achieve it.

“I think we intentionally work very hard on our game and our values and morals and connection, and we want those to be reflected positively,” said Wilkerson.

“The support and love that we receive inspires us to continue to play and create a legacy that represents the diversity and the beautiful stories of Canada—the grit that Canada has, the calm modesty, the confidence, and the fire too. We feel a lot of really good young energy coming into the sport.”

For both Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson, using their platform as athletes to advocate for causes they believe in is an important part of their story. Humana-Paredes has thrown her efforts into championing sustainability in sport, as a leader within Canada’s Green Sports Day, as well as a member of the COC Athletes Commission and Panam Sports Athletes Commission. For Wilkerson, increasing BIPOC representation in beach volleyball is a passion.

“I want to see more accessibility to the sport, and not just pigeonhole beach volleyball to those privileged enough to live by the beach,” said Wilkerson. “We didn’t grow up that way. We have different stories. Canada is not the first thing you would think of with beach volleyball…but we want to see that changing.”

And changing it is—months after Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson’s Paris performance, they were told that there has been a marked increase in beach volleyball registration in Canada. If you can see it, you can be it.

And the next opportunity for Team Canada fans to see Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson in action is soon. The duo will be taking on the Beach Pro Tour Elite16 stop in Montreal, August 13-17.

Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson have a lot of affection for this event, which showed them a groundswell of support when they played there two years ago and earned their first Elite16 title together on their journey towards Paris qualification.

“It felt like we had a third team member on the sand with us,” said Humana-Paredes. “A lot of people had probably never seen beach volleyball before, but the city itself just showed up.”

You can stream the tournament on CBC Sports.