Duda (left) and Ana Patricia (right) pose with their Olympic gold medals on the podium after beating Canada in the women's beach volleyball final at the Eiffel Tower Stadium in Paris. | Carl de Souza / AFP via Getty Images

In the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, Ana Patricia and her Brazil beach volleyball teammate Duda ultimately enjoyed a golden evening.

They were made to work hard for their Olympic victory, however, taken to three sets in the final by Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson.

The prize on the line was so great that tempers flared towards the end of the match, with Wilkerson angrily confronting Ana Patricia at the net, causing an official to step in and the DJ to play John Lennon’s “Imagine” in a bid to keep the peace as the Brazilian jabbed a finger in her opponent’s direction.

That calmed the situation perfectly, with both players laughing and the Canadians even clapping the DJ in approval. The crowd applauded too and joined in with the singalong.

The final score was 2-1 (26-24, 12-21, 15-10) to the Brazilians, with both players cheered on in the pop-up stadium at Champ de Mars by their partners.

Ana Patricia’s girlfriend, personal trainer Nycaelle Maia, has been in Paris since the start of the Games, and was out in the streets with fans after Thursday night’s semifinal win over Australian duo Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy.

Maia wrote a pre-final message to Ana Patricia on her Instagram story: “Your achievement, your happiness is ours too! Only those who live behind the scenes know how much you had to fight and believe to be where you are.

“I am only proud of you, for your strength, determination, dedication, character, the team that you are! God is too good, my love, he knows that everything has its time. You, Olympic finalist.”

Related

Duda’s boyfriend, Alexandre Meinecke — an indoor volleyball player — has also been around and about the host city all week, and was in attendance on Friday.

This was a particularly sweet success for Ana Patricia. Three years ago in Tokyo, at her first Games, she exited the competition at the quarterfinal stage.

But since partnering with Duda, she has been crowned a world champion (Rome 2022) and now has the Olympic title to add to her personal honors board.

The gold medal was significant for Team LGBTQ as well. With Dutch field hockey players Anne Veenendaal and Marleen Jochems plus USA sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson helping their teams to gold earlier on Friday, and Germany claiming bronze in women’s soccer, the class of Paris 2024 is now the most successful Team LGBTQ ever at an Olympic Games.

In Tokyo, out LGBTQ athletes secured 33 medals in total, 11 of them gold. 

With two days to go at these Summer Games, Team LGBTQ has 34 so far on the medal count – and 12 of them are gold.