The beard is back: facial hair fires up Rio 2016 Olympians
There's more facial hair on show at the Rio 2016 athletes' village than at a Viking raiding party
The magnificently hirsute rower Seth Weil is the powerhouse of the USA men's four (Photo: Getty Images/Alexander Hassenstein)
Flicking back over photographs of Olympic Games of decades past and it's hard not to notice an uncanny correlation between facial hair and gold medallists: from Launceston Elliot and Leonidas Pyrgos at Athens 1896 to Mark Spitz at Munich 1972 and Daley Thompson at Los Angeles 1984, Olympic podiums have been no strangers to magnificant moustaches.
After something of a hiatus in the clean-shaven nineties, at Rio 2016 facial hair is back in vogue. This time, the beard is winning out over the classic moustache: styling options range from the full-on lumberjack look sported by US rower Seth Weil to the quirky chin strap of Japanese water polo player Katsuyuki Tanamura and the extravagantly sculpted design worn by USA hurdler Michael Tinsley.
Michael Tinsley boasts one of the track's most creatively styled beards (Photo: Getty Images/Christopher Lee)One athlete in Rio – cyclist Dan Craven of Namibia – even has a beard with allegedly magical powers, tweeting from the peloton during the Olympic road race and time trial.
"Beards are for everyone," Craven tweeted after the race. "They're like a kitten hugging your face. Every day."
On social media, #RioBeard has become a trending topic. The Australian Olympic Committee has even run an article on the potential for a battle of the beards at the athletes' village.
Australian shooter Daniel Repacholi and water polo player Rhys Howden compare their beards (Photo: Australia National Olympic Committee)Could an athlete's facial hair help or hinder his performance? The opinions of fans in Barra Olympic Park on Friday (12 August) were divided.
"If the guy is a swimmer, no way," said Elliot Dial from Connecticut. "It is because I have a beard that I don't swim.
Great Britain's cycling team all shaved off their moustaches before the team sprint final on Thursday (11 August) – and promptly went on to win gold.
Olympic fan Dial has come to Rio 2016 with three Connecticut friends, all of whom are facially hirsute. "The truth is that women love beards," Thomas Pipoli says.
Four beards from Connecticut: (l-r) Elliot Dial, Harrison Shure, Geoff Silver and Thomas Pipoli (Photo: Rio 2016)
One local woman isn't so sure about that.
"I prefer the clean-cut look of triathletes and swimmers," said Rio de Janeiro-native Cristiana Frota. "I was quite shocked by the beard of the goalkeeper on the Japanese water polo team.
I thought it must have been a promise he made to win gold. And by the look of things it didn't go so well because Japan lost all their games."
The beard of Japan's Katsuyuki Tanamura [aid an all-too-brief visit to Rio 2016". (Photo: Getty Images/Tom Pennington)Giovana Freire from São Paulo begs to disagree.
"I love beards and I would never let my boyfriend shave his one", she said on a visit to the Olympic Park with her partner, the elegantly stubbled João Pedro Estrela.
Giovana Freire can't take her hands off the beard of boyfriend João Pedro Estrela (Photo: Rio2016)