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  Rio 2016: Women players shine as men turn coy on the Cabana

Rio 2016: Women players shine as men turn coy on the Cabana

REUTERS
Published : Aug 11, 2016, 11:57 pm IST
Updated : Aug 11, 2016, 11:57 pm IST

On a hot Rio morning under a perfect sky, the sand flies as a bare body dives for a dig.

Czech Republic's Marketa Slukova
 Czech Republic's Marketa Slukova

On a hot Rio morning under a perfect sky, the sand flies as a bare body dives for a dig. This isn’t the Olympic arena, but the public volleyball nets of Copacabana beach and here the men proudly wear tiny swim shorts known in Brazil as “sungas”.

“They’re more comfortable, it’s what we wear to the beach,” said Renato Bastos, a 67-year-old retired Rio resident warming up before a match. “I can go for a swim straight after a game, have a beer while I dry off, it’s great.”

For a sport often described as the Olympics’ sexiest, the men competing at the temporary 12,000-seat arena on Copacabana can appear strangely overdressed in baggy tank tops and long board shorts against their female counterparts in bikinis.

The sparsely dressed locals of Copacabana make them look more formal still.

“It’s a complete joke isn’t it,” said Brazil female volleyball star Agatha Bednarczuk, after beating Argentina in a pool match, a cheeky smile gleaming down from her 1.82 metre frame. “They should play in sungas.”

More than any other sport at the Olympics, beach volleyball attracts attention because of what players wear. Many criticise the sport’s apparent objectification of women, arguing that the sculpted athletes in their tiny attire are used to increase popularity. This week, outfits went viral on social media once again, with people sharing pictures of Egypt’s Doaa Elghobashy in a hijab going up for a block against Germany’s Kira Walkenhorst in a bikini.

The contrast was seen by some as evidence of the unifying affect of the Games. For others, it showed the freedom of the West against female oppression in parts of Islamic culture.

Meanwhile, damp beach volleyball players and a bundled up crowd found out the hard way on Wednesday that grim rain and wind can even beat down on Rio’s picture-perfect Copacabana.

Previous days’ bikini-clad women were replaced by fans in anoraks and hoods, but still the mood was upbeat as pairs faced off in one of Rio 2016’s most iconic venues.

Brazil is in the middle of the Southern Hemisphere winter, and bad weather also forced rowing regatta to be called off.

Location: Brazil, Rio de Janeiro