Taliqua Clancy (beach volleyball) became the first indigenous Australian to compete in beach volleyball at the Commonwealth Games when she won silver on the Gold Coast in 2018 with Mariafe Artacho del Solar. Four years later, the pair repeated the result at their second Games in Birmingham. Growing up in the rural Queensland town of Kingaroy – over 200km from the nearest beach – volleyball seemed an unlikely path for Taliqua. However, the Wulli Wulli-Goreng Goreng woman has gone on to become one of the world’s best, winning the world junior title with Artacho del Solar in 2012 before teaming up with Louise Bawden, the pair rising to no.5 in the world rankings.  She and Bawden reached the quarter finals in Rio 2016 where she was the first indigenous Australian to compete at the Olympics in beach volleyball. Clancy and Artacho del Solar reunited in 2017 after Bawden retired. The pair made it all the way to the final before losing to the highly ranked Canadians at their first Commonwealth Games in 2018, before gaining some revenge at Tokyo 2020, knocking the no.1 world ranked Canadians out in the quarters. However, the Americans proved to be too strong in the final, with the Australian pair taking silver. Clancy’s match-day ritual has her wearing her trademark visor, even if she and Mariafe are playing at night.