Lara Ciarabellini

If the Olympic machine remodelled its hosting city Rio de Janeiro into a even more charming place to capture the world's eyes, amateur sport activities have been long since shaping its social fabric. Contrasting Le Corbusier's concept of sport areas following order and linearity, Rio de Janeiro's curvaceous landscape is the quotidian theatre for thousands of people practising former and present Olympic and Paralympic sports.

Whether cyclers, runners, and skaters on the promenades, or handball players on city's beaches, their metropolitan routine contributes to create the collective sense of space. Because here, more cheekily than other cities, beaches and parks, the bay and the urban scape, belong to athletes that transform them into a huge outdoor gymnasium. And it is here, where the magic happens: Rio's sport natural theatres become the places where different cultures meet and freely show their collective identity.