This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Centers for East Asian Studies and Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

The Summer Olympics are over but the games continue on Ipanema Beach here in Rio. Yes. That Ipanema Beach. The one where the girl from the 1962 song went walking. Today’s Ipanema Beach has a girl too. Her name is Giovanna Petrucci, she’s 18 and she may be tall and tan and young and lovely but she’s definitely not walking; she’s slacklining. A slackline is a 2 inch piece of webbing that’s tied between two fixed points and bounces like trampoline. For most, the challenge is simply to walk on the slackline. But Giovanna, the self-taught “queen of the slackline” jumps, twists, and flips and, most importantly, doesn’t fall. Though her moves are more freestyle than formal, like all world class athletes, she makes them seem effortless. If slacklining ever becomes an Olympic sport, the girl from Ipanema 2.0 will bring home the gold.

With thanks to Danika Swanson for this text, from the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.