With bikini tops on, Brazilians still have fun at Copacabana
RIO DE JANEIRO — The beach volleyball competition at the Summer Olympics will be held on Brazil’s famed Copacabana Beach, and let’s get one thing clear: No topless sunbathing allowed.
The local ban has, in recent years, triggered demonstrations that drew crowds when some of the protestors showed up — how else? — topless. There were no such protesters Saturday when beach volleyball competition began, but there were big crowds and contrasting scenes.
Inside Beach Volleyball Stadium, thousands of Brazilians clad in their country’s colors of green and yellow chanted, stomped and cheered their own Alison Cerutti and Bruno Oscar Schmidt to a 21-19, 22-20 victory over Canada's Josh Binstock and Samuel Schachter. Nearby, the beaches competed for attention with a quieter and distinct local flavor.
Wearing the required bikini tops, hundreds of female sunbathers basked in the sun alongside the bare-chested men, and American tourists Hannah Lay and Andrea Sepulveda couldn’t help but notice the swimsuits were especially revealing. They said it was in stark contrast to the dress code in Swaziland, where they had just spent the 27 months with the Peace Corps before flying to Rio for vacation.
“Swaziland is very conservative,'' said Lay, 24, a native of Robinsdale, Minn., "so we love all the skin and the sun.''
Sepulveda, 25, surveyed the beach as took in the scene: Children juggled soccer balls with their feet, adults played beach volleyball, surfers rode the waves and vendors hawked their wares.
“The word colorful comes to mind,’’ Sepulveda said.
Other than the occasional horn set off by one of the vendors who trudge across the sand selling everything from beer, beach towels and sunglasses, it was a muted tone compared to the raucous scene inside the Beach Volleyball Arena. Quiet enough, most of the time, to hear the crashing waves.
Pedro Bastos, a 31-year-old lifeguard, suggested the mellow atmosphere might have something to do with marijuana use he said continues despite the public ban against it that, unlike the ban on topless sunbathing, goes largely unenforced at the beach.
“Today,’’ he said, “is a day to get Zen.’’
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