I met Juliana Malacarne in New York City at a Chelsea coffee shop on a blustery October day. As I was texting her to let her know I had arrived, I looked up and saw a woman. She took off a heavy maroon sweatshirt to reveal a green and white baseball shirt, grey sweatpants with just enough definition peeking through her clothes to let the world know that she trains hard. Since I didn’t have my glasses on, I had to squint a bit as I looked up from my notepad. “Juliana,” I called out in the hopes I wasn’t embarrassing myself. “Derek, hi!” the woman exclaimed with a big smile full of white teeth and a Brazilian-Portuguese accent. Thankfully, it was Juliana. I kissed her on the cheek because that’s apparently that’s how Brazilians greet each other and we sat down to begin our chat. Of the few other people around, no one else looked up.
It’s amazing to think that I am sitting with a woman who was just crowned Ms. Olympia for the second year in a row not a few months prior, and nobody around gave it a second thought. That’s kind of the amazing thing about her: you wouldn’t know she was Juliana Malacarne if she wasn’t Juliana Malacarne. She is humble and soft spoken. Her physique is not overpowering, and doesn’t have any airs about her. “No coffee for me,” she tells me. “It’s not a diet thing, it’s that I just don’t like it. I like Diet Coke instead. It’s a little sweet. It’s nice after I’m done competing for the season.” After having gone through the rigors of yet another competition season, Malacarne reflects on improving, constantly trying to make the best in the world better. “I’m just trying to bring what the IFBB is looking for. I don’t think it’s my personal best but I want to win.“ Juliana has a fiery competitive spirit and an indomitable will do what it takes to become champion. Of course she does what it takes to succeed at the highest level of her field, but to sacrifice the physique she personally wants to achieve for the privilege of Arnold Schwarzenegger presenting her with the Olympia trophy speaks volumes about Malacarne’s exceptional commitment to the sport. In the many ways she is exceptional, she is actually, dare I say, normal.
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