Taliqua Clancy (born 25 June 1992) is an Australian

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

and

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the ...

player who represented Australia at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

in beach volleyball, partnered with Louise Bawden. She is the first

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

volleyball player to represent Australia at the Olympics. Clancy plays as a left-side blocker.

Early life

Clancy was born in

Kingaroy Kingaroy is a rural town and locality in the South Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia. The town is situated on the junction of the D'Aguilar and the Bunya Highways, north-west of the state capital Brisbane and south west of Gympie. As a ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, into a family of

descent ( Wulli Wulli and Goreng Goreng). She spent the first 15 years of her life in Kingaroy. She turned down a

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

scholarship offer from the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

and instead accepted a scholarship to the

Queensland Academy of Sport The Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) is an elite sports institute set up in 1991 by the Queensland Government to support athletes in the state of Queensland. Its headquarters are currently located at the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre in ...

for

. When Clancy was 17 she accepted an

scholarship and relocated to

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

to participate in the national

program. In 2019, she returned to her home state of

and is now based in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Professional career

Rio de Janeiro – 2016 Olympics

She participated in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio with partner Louise Bawden, reaching the quarter-finals.

Gold Coast – 2018 Commonwealth Games

Taliqua participated in the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast with partner

Mariafe Artacho del Solar Mariafe Artacho del Solar (born 24 October 1993) is an Australian beach volleyball player. She represented Australia at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2021. Artacho del Solar plays as a Beach ...

. The Australian pairing won their 3 preliminary pool matches without losing a set, with wins over Cyprus's Manolina Konstantinou and Mariota Angelopoulou (21–14, 21–9), Grenada's Renisha Stafford and Thornia Williams (21–2, 21–11), and Scotland's Lynne Beattie and Melissa Coutts (21–9, 21–9). Finishing top of their pool they advanced to the quarter-finals, where they easily dispatched Rwanda's Charlotte Nzayisenga and Denyse Mutatsimpundu (21–9, 21–8) to advance to the semi-finals. After winning the opening set of their semi-final against Vanuatu's pairing of Linline Matauatu and Miller Pata, the Aussie duo lost their first set of the tournament to send the match to the decider, which they won convincingly to advance to the gold medal match (21–19, 16–21, 15–9). In the match of the tournament, the Australian team came up agonisingly short against their more experienced and higher ranked Canadian opponents,

Melissa Humana-Paredes Melissa Humana-Paredes (born October 10, 1992) is a Canadian beach volleyball player, who is partnered with Brandie Wilkerson. Humana-Paredes won the women's gold medal with Sarah Pavan at the 2019 Beach Volleyball World Championships. Early li ...

and

Sarah Pavan Sarah Lindsey Pavan (born August 16, 1986) is a Canadian beach volleyball and former indoor volleyball player. She was part of the Canada women's national volleyball team at the 2010 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship in Japan. With Meli ...

(19–21, 20–22). Although their winning run came to an end, they secured a silver medal at their first Commonwealth Games together.

Hamburg – 2019 World Championships

Taliqua participated in the 2019 World Championships in Hamburg with partner

. The Australian pairing comfortably won their first preliminary match against Mauritius' Maita Cousin and Letendrie Nathalie (21–5, 21–6) before being defeated by the Dutch pair of Joy Stubbe and

Marleen van Iersel Marleen Maria van Iersel (born 7 January 1988) is a Dutch professional beach volleyball player born in Breda. Career Iersel began her career playing indoor volleyball before switching to the beach volleyball in 2001. In 2003, she was selected ...

(19–21, 22–24). In a must win match, the Australians prevailed by the slimmest of margins over the American duo of

Brooke Sweat Brooke Sweat (born Brooke Youngquist; March 27, 1986) is an American professional beach volleyball player, specializing as a defender. She started her career in 2007 with the AVP tours. Sweat had her best ever international ( FIVB) finish with ...

and

Kerri Walsh Jennings Kerri Lee Walsh Jennings (born August 15, 1978) is an American professional beach volleyball player, three-time Olympic gold medalist, and a one-time Olympic bronze medalist. She is the beach volleyball leader in career victories as of 2016 ha ...

(21-19, 24–22) to advance to the elimination rounds. It was during their first elimination match that Mariafe suffered an injury to her Medial Collateral Ligament in her left knee, despite this injury, they defeated Canada's

Heather Bansley Heather Bansley (born September 13, 1987) is a Canadian beach volleyball player, playing as a left-side defender. She has been named FIVB Best Defensive Player of the World Tour in 2015, 2016 and 2018. University career Bansley played CIS voll ...

and

Brandie Wilkerson Brandie Wilkerson (born July 1, 1992) is a Canadian beach volleyball player who plays as a right-side blocker. With teammate Heather Bansley, she achieved a career-high world ranking of No. 1 in November 2018. She is the 2018 FIVB Best Block ...

(21–15, 21–19). Due to the injury, the Aussie pairing were unsure if they could continue with their round of 16 match against Switzerland's

Joana Heidrich Joana Mäder (née Heidrich, born 2 October 1991) is a Swiss beach volleyball player. She played with Nadine Zumkehr Nadine Zumkehr (born 5 February 1985) is a Swiss beach volleyball player. As of 2012, she played with Simone Kuhn. The pa ...

and Anouk Vergé-Dépré the following day. Nevertheless, in true Australian spirit, the duo played on and won a tight 3 set match against the Swiss (21–16, 21–23, 15–9). Advancing to their first World Championships quarterfinal they were one win away from a top four finish, a remarkable achievement given Mariafe's injury. With no other teams being fully aware of the injury, the pair continued on and endured a battle royale in the first set of their quarterfinal against their Russian opponents Nadezda Makroguzova and Svetlana Kholomina eventually winning that set and comfortably closing out the match in the second (24–22, 21–14). Unfortunately, they were not able to back up their quarterfinal victory later that same day and were defeated in their semifinal by the American pairing of

Alix Klineman Alexandra Rose "Alix" Klineman (born December 30, 1989) is an American beach volleyball, 2020 Summer Olympics gold medalist, and former indoor volleyball player. In high school she was the 2006 Gatorade National Player of the Year. She was a fou ...

and

April Ross April Elizabeth Ross (born June 20, 1982) is an American beach volleyball player and three-time Olympic medalist. She won a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics with Jennifer Kessy, a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics with Kerri Walsh ...

(15–21, 18–21). Despite not being at their best, the Australians continued to show true resilience; after the semi final loss and pushing past the pain. They went on to win their bronze medal play-off against the Swiss team of

Nina Betschart Nina Betschart (born 14 October 1995) is a Switzerland, Swiss professional beach volleyball player who plays as a Beach_volleyball#Player_specializations, right side defender with her partner Tanja Hüberli. She is a two-time European Beach Voll ...

and Tanja Hüberli (21–18, 22–20) to claim one of their best results and most memorable achievements.

Tokyo – 2020 Olympics

On 4 August 2021, Clancy and partner

upset the world number-one team of Canada in the quarter finals. On 5 August, they defeated the Latvian team with a straight-sets win to advance to the gold-medal match against the United States, which they subsequently lost to earn the silver medal.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clancy, Taliqua 1992 births Living people Indigenous Australian sportspeople Australian women's volleyball players Australian women's beach volleyball players Beach volleyball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic beach volleyball players of Australia Beach volleyball players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Beach volleyball blockers People from Kingaroy Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Beach volleyball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Australia Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in beach volleyball Beach volleyball players at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Sportswomen from Queensland Australian Institute of Sport alumni