The first thoughts of Brazil bring images of the magical color and excitement that surrounds the scenic beaches and the beautiful women who walk the sands of Ipanema and Copacabana. And as a 'people watcher', if the stunning visuals on those beaches don't satiate your appetite for physical beauty, Rio de Janiero's annual Carnival brings millions of people into the streets for a festival that is thought to be the largest in the world. Bodies abound in a constant dance frenzy that lasts for days.
It is from this cultural background that makes Brazil unique in all the world when it comes to breeding a female population the oozes with a vibrant, exotic, intoxicating appeal. And so it is in the world of physical culture where bodybuilding, figure, fitness and bikini displays enjoy a avid fan following.
A Trio Con Brio
With the addition of a new pro Physique division this year three Brazilians are the living, breathing, walking, talking epitome of what Brazil offers when taken a step beyond the casual thong bikini beach goers. KARINA NASCIMENTO, PATRICIA MELLO, and JULIANA MALACARNE each embody the colorful lifestyle from which they came. Aside from the striking overall physical appearance they possess, the trio exudes an intangible presence that causes anyone to take a closer look. They bubble over with magnetism.
In a 2012 IFBB pro Physique schedule that listed 12 contests to be held over the course of the competitive season, by the time six contests had been staged, three of them had been won by Brazilians. Even more interesting is the fact that each of the three are dramatically different in their general appearance. Juliana is 5-2, and weighs just 119 pounds. Karina is 5-4, and Patricia is a statuesque 5-9. All however, have that distinctive Brazilian mystique.
KARINA: SOMEONE HAD TO BE FIRST
As the first of the trio to make her mark on the new Physique division, Karina Nascimento became the first-ever pro Physique winner at the Desert Muscle Classic held on February 25th in 
Phoenix, Arizona. Nascimento could be considered one of Brazil's pioneers in women's bodybuilding along with Monica Martin and Angela Debatin having all begun their competitive efforts in the late 90's and turning pro around the same time. In Nascimento's case, she was an overall winner at the 1999 NPC Ronnie Coleman Classic while Martin and Debatin had entered their first amateur contests in Brazil. After additional overall wins at the 2000 NPC Ironmaiden in California, the 2000 NPC Red River in Oklahoma, and the 2001 NPC Women's Extravaganza in New Jersey, the IFBB Brazilian Federation – recognizing her strong potential - awarded Nascimento her pro status, and in 2003 she made her pro debut at the Ms. International. Nascimento's Brazilian presence at that event put her right in the thick of a very impressive lightweight class that year as Cathy Lefrancois finished first, followed by Denise Masino. After Nascimento in third, she topped Dayana Cadeau in fourth (who would win the LW Ms. Olympia a year later), and Valentina Chepiga – a five-time entrant in the Ms. Olympia and the HW winner at the Ms. O in 2000. Nascimento, with little argument, was running in very talented company. After a brief, and less than memorable brush with the Figure division in 2005, Nascimento settled in the begin a family (three children – two girls and a boy) and dropped from the competitive scene until this year. Nascimento's interest was piqued in 2011 when she heard news of the new Physique division becoming a reality in 2012. “I was very interested the first time I heard about the Physique division,” recalls Nascimento. “It just sounded like something I would enjoy doing. It would get me back into great shape, and I would have that special feeling of being on stage again....something I have always loved.” Unwittingly, Nascimento cemented her place in history winning the first IFBB pro Physique contest, and in 2013 she is looking forward to the opportunity of competing in the first Physique Olympia.
MELLO MAKES HER MOVE
In 2012, Patricia Mello will be remembered as the unanimous winner of the Show of Champions in Orlando, Florida on April 28th. It was a big competitive field of 21 contestants and the striking Brazilian brought that unmistakable magic to her stage performance. Less remembered will be the fact that just two weeks earlier she had finished second by a two-point margin to Sara Hurrle at the Los Angeles Pro Grand Prix. For Mello, this event provided a nice warm-up for her entry in Florida.
All of this however, is just the most recent accomplishments in what has been a life of meeting the challenge of how she rates visually in a oft times highly critical world where judging and the assessment of physical beauty are of the utmost importance. For Mello, it began at age seven when her mother whisked her off to ballet lessons. Those lessons would be an excellent preparation for what would soon become a child modeling career that began at 10, and by the time she was 12 she had signed with a modeling agency in Sao Paulo. During those early formative years she learned the harsh realities of acceptance and rejection. She learned, first hand, what 'competition' was all about, especially in the work force. She also learned the feeling of uncertainty and how to be resilient. Years later, all these early experiences led her to theatre work and majoring in Performing Arts at the University of Sao Paulo. Along with other jobs, she worked as a stage actress, continued modeling, had roles in short films, and did advertizing and commercial work. All, she admits, was driven by her passion to perform while embracing an extreme level of determination.
With time passing in her career in front of a camera, Mello began to look at her physique with an acquired desire to make improvements on it. Weight training became the answer. The gradual increase in her training regularity increased as she saw the differences the effort was making. Soon she was at the gym everyday. But it was on a chance trip to a bodybuilding and fitness show where Mello left the event “converted” to what would become her new lifestyle. For a year she became a student of training methods, diet knowledge and what the competitive physique world was like. Coincidentally, her first contest effort would be at the same venue where she had watched the women competing and the visual impact that changed her life.
That first contest she entered in 2002, she finished third. It was a local event, but as she says, “From then on, my destination was set, and although I didn't realize it at the time, my life became been a flood of transformation, challenges, successes and difficulties which even I could not imagine”. Her first contest entry in 2002 was also the beginning of a whirlwind ride to the top. Having entered that first NABBA event, Mello continued on to win two more contests that year taking the Brazilian National Figure title, followed by a victory at the NABBA World Figure Championships in Greece. She became the first Brazilian to win the NABBA World Figure title. Then in 2004 she added the NABBA Universe Figure title becoming the first Brazilian to win NABBA's two most prestigious crowns. Anxious for new challenges, and having exhausted her opportunities in NABBA, she sought the IFBB in her efforts to compete in even tougher competitions.
In 2005 Mello joined the IFBB amateur ranks, and found that she would need to make considerable changes physically, as the standards and criteria were very different in the Figure 
division. She was a quick study however, and her efforts were successful right away. In 2005 she placed second at the IFBB South American Championships. A year later she won the Brazilian National Figure title. Later in the year she placed fourth at the IFBB World Amateur Championships and was awarded pro status by her national federation in 2007.
Making her pro debut in 2008, Mello competed several times without breaking into the top 15. But in November, she placed third at the Kentucky Pro Figure event qualifying her for the Figure Olympia in 2009. Mello went unplaced at the 2009 Figure Olympia, but added a fourth-place finish at the Kentucky Pro Figure to complete the year.
The experience from that year was invaluable and in March 2010 she placed third at the IFBB New Zealand Pro Figure contest to once again qualify for the Figure Olympia. This time she placed 16th but gained more experience in the IFBB's most prestigious contest.
In 2011 she stepped aside from competitions due to a nagging injury diagnosed as excessive acetabular wear in the hip area. Her concern for the injury had her considering retirement (but only for a short time). In September she was introduced to uber-trainer Charles Glass and his encouragement put her back on track to reach her desired goals. By December she had moved to Los Angeles ( where she now considers her second home), and she and Glass set a goal of preparing for the Los Angeles Pro Grand Prix and entry in the new pro Physique division. It didn't take Glass long to see his protege reap the rewards. Her second-place finish at the LA Pro Grand Prix, followed by a win at the Show of Champions has shown that her potential in the Physique division was real, and she now looks with a strong conviction to improving her overall look in 2013. Still young at 31, did we mention she was born on Halloween in 1980?
The only thing scary about Patricia Mello is to wonder just how much more potential physical beauty she can unleash with that wondrous Brazilian body.
JULIANA: A BEAUTIFUL BRAZILIAN BODY AND ONE OF A KIND
As anyone who follows the women's Bodybuilding, Figure and Physique world now knows, Juliana Malacarne captured a well-deserved victory at the 
New York Pro Physique Championship on May 19th. For her, and for all of her fans, it was a long awaited recognition for this striking Brazilian – one which had begun when she turned pro in 2006. The years that went by as she toiled to reach the victory stand had nothing to do with her falling short of the quality needed to win a contest, mind you, it was that she just didn't fit the criteria for the Figure division she was relegated to when she turned pro. Put simply, she had too much of a good thing....and that was quality muscle on a well-balanced structural frame. To best understand this unique blessing, it's best to start at the beginning where she picked her parents very carefully. She was genetically sound from day one.
By the time Malacarne took an interest in competing, she did so in the fitness division. With only four months of weight training behind her, she won her first local contest in 1999. From that point on as an amateur in her early days she enjoyed good success. In 2000 and 2002 she won the Brazilian National Championships, and in 2001 she also won the Ibero and South American Championship events. At that point she took a break from competitions to concentrate on getting her college degree in Physical Education. But by 2005 she was missing the stage and decided to try the Bodyfitness (Figure) division. Her switch to Figure was magic. Not only did she win the Brazilian National title and South American Championships, she moved on to the IFBB World Amateur Championships where she also won the overall title. Her victory at the Worlds carried with it the fact that not only did she win her height class convincingly, she also out-pointed two heavily favored Slovakians in the final assessment of the three class winners. In short, an international judging panel recognized Malacarne as the top amateur bodyfitness competitor in the world. The result propelled her into a qualification to enter the IFBB pro ranks. What followed next was not exactly what she expected.
The competitive season of 2006 marked the beginning of Malacarne's pro career, and her pro debut was a sobering one. Entered in the Europa Supershow, she tied for 20th. Following 
that, she endured a 14th-place finish at the Sacramento Pro. Finishing her first season as a pro she placed a respectable seventh at the Palm Beach Pro Figure (a finish that would be her highest in a open pro event until her victory at the New York Pro Physique). As Juliana described the Palm Beach event, “I did ok.”
In total however, Malacarne's journey as a pro Figure competitor had to be a very frustrating one, although she never outwardly uttered a word of discontent. Through a dozen contests from 2006 to 2010 she never broke into the top ten with the exception of the Palm Beach Pro show. Placings of 13th, 14th, 16th and even a tie for 21st were the order of the day. She was the quintessential example of a beautiful girl with a beautiful physique that didn't fit in with the rest of the herd. But news of a new Physique division was about to change all that. Almost immediately fans and close followers of Malacarne were salivating over the possibilities that a Physique division was tailor made for her structural and muscular qualities.
The time for Malacarne to make her debut as a pro Physique competitor came when she entered the New York Pro event. It was a huge field of 25 contestants, and Malacarne was one of the smallest competitors in the field at 5-2, 119 pounds. Some observers wondered if she might be lost in the crowd. That didn't happen. In fact, her victory in New York wasn't just convincing, it was unanimous. She had found her niche, and future contest entries would carry a much more meaningful approach along with a revitalized motivation to remain consistent in an effort to compete in peak condition.
Might she only be just getting started ? If 'paying dues' really has anything to do with maintaining a high competitive level, then Juliana Malacarne has paid hers with interest...and always with a warmly sincere Brazilian smile.
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