Mariafe Artacho del Solar (born 24 October 1993) is an Australian

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two to four players each 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 o ...

player. She represented Australia at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

and the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

in 2021. Artacho del Solar plays as a right-side defender. As of 21 January 2020, she and partner

Taliqua Clancy Taliqua Clancy (born 25 June 1992) is an Australian volleyball and beach volleyball player who represented Australia at the 2016 Summer Olympics in beach volleyball, partnered with Louise Bawden. She is the first Indigenous Australian volleybal ...

were ranked 5th according to the Women's FIVB World Rankings.

Early life

Del Solar moved with her mother from

Lima, Peru Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

to Sydney when she was 11 years old. They joined her older brother and extended family who already lived there. She spoke limited English and found that sport was the best way to communicate. She attended Gordon West Public School before attending Killara High School, where she met her future Rio Olympics beach volleyball partner Nicole Laird. Del Solar was then offered an AIS Scholarship with the beach volleyball program in 2012, which led her to move to Adelaide, South Australia, where the Australian Beach Volleyball Program is located.

Professional career

Rio de Janeiro – 2016 Olympics

Del Solar made her Olympic debut at the

in Rio de Janeiro with then-partner Nicole Laird. The pair did not win a match in Rio, losing to the US, Switzerland, and China in their preliminary pool matches, finishing the tournament in 19th place.

Gold Coast – 2018 Commonwealth Games

Del Solar participated in the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

on the Gold Coast with partner

. The duo won their three preliminary pool matches without losing a set, with wins over Cyprus' 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 defeated 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 Linline Matauatu (born 23 March 1991) is a Vanuatuan beach volleyball player. Matauatu competed at the 2018 Commonwealth Games where she won a bronze medal in the women's tournament alongside Miller Pata Miller Pata (born 11 June 1988) is a ...

and Miller Pata, the duo lost their first set of the tournament, sending the match to the decider, which they won to advance to the gold medal match (21–19, 16–21, 15–9). At the gold medal match, the duo lost to Canada's

Melissa Humana-Paredes Melissa Humaña-Paredes (born October 10, 1992) is a Canadian beach volleyball player currently partnered with Brandie Wilkerson. The pair represented Canada at the 2024 Summer Olympics, winning a silver medal. Humaña-Paredes previously compet ...

and

Sarah Pavan Sarah Lindsey Pavan (born August 16, 1986) is a Canadian former beach volleyball and 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 Mel ...

(19–21, 20–22) to take home the silver medal.

FIVB World Tour 2019

Del Solar and Clancy are currently competing on the FIVB World Tour. The pair have already won a Bronze in Xiamen, China and Gold in the Asian Beach Volleyball Championships at Maoming. They competed at the

2019 Beach Volleyball World Championships The 2019 Beach Volleyball World Championships was held in Hamburg, Germany from 28 June to 7 July 2019.

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, Germany, from 28 June to 7 July, winning bronze. Due to an injury to Del Solar's left knee, the pair took three months off before competing again towards the end of 2019, during which they won gold at the 4-star double gender event in

Chetumal, Mexico Chetumal (, , ; , ) is a city on the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. It is the capital of the state of Quintana Roo and the municipal seat of the Municipality of Othón P. Blanco. In 2020 it had a population of 169,028 people ...

Tokyo – 2020 Olympics

On August 4, 2021, Del Solar and partner

upset the world number-one team of Canada in the quarter-finals. On August 5, 2021, they defeated the Latvian team with a convincing straight-sets win to advance to the gold-medal match against the United States. They lost to the U.S. in the finals, and took the silver medal.

Coaching

From August to October 2021, Del Solar coached Year 10 high-school volleyball at Ormiston College in Brisbane, Australia.

Personal life

Del Solar is married to Jack Curtin; their wedding took place at a registry in November 2020.

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Artacho, Mariafe 1993 births Living people Australian women's beach volleyball players Beach volleyball defenders Olympic beach volleyball players for Australia Olympic silver medalists for Australia Olympic medalists in beach volleyball Beach volleyball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Beach volleyball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games medallists in beach volleyball Beach volleyball players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Beach volleyball players at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Peruvian emigrants to Australia Australian people of Peruvian descent Volleyball players from Lima Naturalised citizens of Australia Beach volleyball players at the 2024 Summer Olympics 21st-century Australian sportswomen