Sitting in a beach bar beside the sweeping sands of Rio’s Copacabana Beach, escort girl and sex worker Juliana calls the Olympics Games a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity to make big money’ and meet men from across the world.

Her skimpy bikini top leaving little to the imagination, the dark-haired 23-year-old pouted her lips scarred with pink, and declared: ‘People will come to my city to win a gold medal at the Olympics but for me it will be the gold in my pockets that will make me a winner.’

Throwing back her head and laughing, she added: ‘I want to be the gold medal winner of my “business” at the Olympics but there is a lot of competition…’

Opportunity: The 23-year-old described the Olympic Games kicking off in Brazil on Friday as a 'once in a lifetime opportunity'

Big plans: Dark-haired 23-year-old Juliana, or Bruna to her clients, is one of the thousands of sex workers hoping to make their fortunes at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games

Crackdown: Prostitution and sex work are among the best ways to earn a lot of money quickly, with many clients paying in 'hard currency' like the US dollar

Going for gold: There are an estimated 12,000 sex workers planning to target foreigners in the Brazilian city, where prostitution is legal

Juliana, whose ‘working’ name for clients is Bruna, is one of an estimated 12,000 sex workers who are planning to ‘target’ some 400,000 visitors expected in the Brazilian city during the Olympics and Paralympics in the coming days.

Prostitution is legal in Brazil but the authorities are expected to crackdown on Rio’s famous sex trade, however Juliana is confident that this will not cause her or her colleagues many problems.

‘Why should I worry about the police?’ she asks, ‘They are among my clients.’ She continues: ‘To girls in Brazil, this (prostitution) is accepted by everyone and it is an easy way to make money when it is very tough…there are few jobs in the city, everything is expensive and the economy is falling apart in Rio.

‘Many, many girls here do it because it is the best way to earn fast money and often hard currency. (The US dollar is her favourite)

‘All the girls I work with are very excited about the Olympics, it is an opportunity to make money and maybe find a way out of our life by meeting a boyfriend or a husband – I dream of meeting an athlete who could take me away.’

Fast money: Despite claims that the police are set to crackdown on sex workers during the Olympics, Juliana said she isn't worried as the police 'are among my clients'

Foreign welcome: Juliana will try to work every night during the Olympics, although she typically only works three days or nights a week

Drinking from a coconut overlooking Copacabana and ribbon of hotels which she calls her ‘working area’, she said that currently she works three days or nights a week – with an average of four clients a day – she will try to work every night during the Olympics.

Speaking in broken English – she said: ‘The clients don’t pay for me to talk so my English is not a problem’ – Juliana claimed she had earned thousands of dollars since giving up a job at a beauty parlour a year ago to become what she terms an ‘escort.’

People do not understand outside Brazil but no one looks down on us here, it is another accepted profession. Juliana

She said that she currently charges Western clients up to £100 an hour to go to a hotel with them – local clients are less – although this will increase during the Olympics.

Juliana claimed the highest she has been paid so far was US$2,000 (£1,400) for one night away with a Western client.

Her parents who live in a city north of Rio believe she is still working in a beauty parlour, she said, but she quickly added: ‘I like what I do, I can establish myself for life by doing this, I have a car, an apartment, a computer, a telephone and I would have only the phone is I was not doing this.

‘I am learning English and I want to travel, this life will give me that,’ she said, ‘People do not understand outside Brazil but no one looks down on us here, it is another accepted profession.’

Valuable: Although she currently charges Western clients up to £100 an hour to go to a hotel with them, local clients are less

Stepping up: However Juliana plans to ramp up her prices during the Olympics to make the most of the golden opportunity

Ready: Juliana said she meets her clients through Facebook, Tinder, adverts and via the telephone

Foreign money: The 23-year-old insists she is 'not worried' about the potential threat posed by clients, although she said locals could be 'violent' towards the girls

It is estimated there are up to one million people involved in the sex trade in Brazil and brothels are easy to find sharing streets where Olympic officials and visitors are staying.

Some girls ‘work the streets’ and can be seen in their polished high heels, short tight skirts waiting beside the road in small groups at night.

Others work in the clubs bars and brothels, some reached up narrow, filthy staircases guarded guarded by ‘heavies.’ Many are sleazy and a far cry from the glamour of Copacabana.

Juliana said she meets her clients through Facebook, Tinder ,adverts and via the telephone and is ‘not worried’ about the threat posed by clients.

She claimed locals could be ‘violent’ towards the girls but international clients wanted their ‘fantasy’ of making love to a Brazilian woman and posed little or no threat.

‘They have their wives and girlfriends to go home to so do not want trouble here. It will be a nice souvenir of Rio in their minds and I tell them if they want to take pictures of me they need to be careful – but men can be crazy about a woman from Brazil. We like that, it makes them come back,’ Juliana explained.

Big business: According to Juliana, international clients pose little threat to the workers because they wanted their 'fantasy' of making love to a Brazilian woman

Fantasies: She said international clients can be 'crazy about a woman from Brazil', who have a reputation for being some of the sexiest women in the world

Client base: Among Juliana's regular client base are Britons, Americans, Germans and Italians, and she has several bookings already made for during the Olympics

As a precaution, she gives the client’s details, telephone number and the place she will meet him to a male friend, who she refers to as a ‘father figure’ and insists he receives no money from her.

Asked about the warning of the mosquito-borne Zika virus being transmitted through sex, she was alarmingly dismissive insisting she thought ‘the danger is overstated’ and it was a ‘condition of business’ the client wears a condom.

She claimed she has regular clients who are British, American, German and Italian with several bookings already for the period of the Olympics.

I have already experienced being with sportsmen but it is the ambition of all the girls here to be with an Olympic athlete. Juliana

‘I have already experienced being with sportsmen but it is the ambition of all the girls here to be with an Olympic athlete.’ Looking out of a beach where several beautiful young women in tiny bikinis were lying on the sand, she claimed she recognised two as fellow ‘workers.’

‘The Olympics are an opportunity to meet nice people with money and perhaps escape…leave this life behind.’

She joked that it is 'a dream to be Julia Roberts’ – a reference to the film in which the actress plays a beautiful prostitute who wealthy businessman Richard Gere falls in love with and sweeps away to a new life.

As with the World Cup two years ago, there are reports that girls have attended English lessons and set up credit card facilities in preparation for the Olympics and Paralympics.

Often, the girls are taken to apartments or so-called ‘love hotels’ dotted around Rio. At the Vip’s suites between the ironic Copacabana and Ipanema beaches overlooking the sea, there are 46 rooms in a complex boasting ‘absolute privacy’ and protected by security guards.

A senior employee who showed us around some of the suites at the 46 year-old motel said it was the job of the 60 staff to make the ‘dreams and fantasies’ of clients come true.

Fiction: She joked it is 'a dream to be Julia Roberts’ – a reference to the film in which she plays a beautiful prostitute who wealthy businessman Richard Gere sweeps away to a new life

Nighttime: Often, the girls are taken to apartments or so-called ‘love hotels’ dotted around Rio

Unconcerned: Asked about the warning of the mosquito-borne Zika virus being transmitted through sex, she was alarmingly dismissive insisting she thought ‘the danger is overstated’

All rooms have a sex coach in the corner – some have two double beds, saunas, huge mirrors and Jacuzzis – a supply of branded condoms and can be booked for several people at a time.

Sometimes they tell me their fantasy so we can make it happen. One woman wanted it to be the scene of a mortuary and to have sex with men pretending to be dead. Senior employee at a 'love hotel'

Sex toys and aides are available and can be pre-ordered. Our host said that many bookings had been made already for the Olympics – a price list he carried marked ‘Olimpidas 2016 – revealed prices has been increased during the Games four-fold so the most expensive was £1,300 a night for a couple with increased costs for each extra person.

Bookings for the Olympic week, including some from the UK, had already been guaranteed, he said with many more expected to enjoy the rooms that include private swimming pools and balconies that overlook the Olympic cycleway and official marathon course.

The British, our host said, were among the ‘most conservative’ in their requests with many wanting to ‘be with one or two Brazilian women.’

Some, he said, brought their wives and wanted a local girl to join them. He insisted Vips did not supply girls but ‘facilitated’ their entertainment.

Desires: A senior employee showed MailOnline around some of the suites at the 46 year-old motel said it was the job of the 60 staff to make the ‘dreams and fantasies’ of clients come true

Exploitation: While many are viewing the Olympics as an opportunity, there are serious concerns that other women are being shipped into the city by human traffickers

‘Sometimes they tell me their fantasy so we can make it happen,’ he said, ‘One woman wanted it to be the scene of a mortuary and to have sex with men pretending to be dead, another wanted to create the atmosphere where she was the ugly duckling.

‘One man wanted to be nude when he left his room, others want to watch others having sex. It is quite normal…’

Among the many bizarre stories we were told was of a local musician asked to play while a couple made love – on the condition that he kept his eyes shut. But while girls like Juliana appear to see the Olympics as an opportunity, there are grave concerns that others are being shipped into the city and exploited by human traffickers.

Sex work: There are worries that human traffickers are taking advantage of the massive influx of foreign visitors to exploit vulnerable people for sex work including children and adolescents

Vulnerable: Activists have launched campaigns to raise awareness among foreign visitors that 'sexual exploitation is not tourism, but a serious violation of human rights'

Talitha Kum, a Catholic international network against trafficking, warned: ‘The city of Rio de Janeiro is one of the main Brazilian cities that attracts tourists who are interested in buying sex, even with children and adolescents.

‘The 2016 Olympic Games will attract a lot of tourists and with them, opportunities for criminal organisations to enter more easily to pursue their own evil agenda,” it added.