WHY WOULD A country whose greatest export is a bikini wax be awarded the Olympic games? Brazil – where every night promises to be Carnivale, where every girl is apparently from Ipanema, and ‘the Brazilian’ is what lies behind the thin strip of lycra that doubles as both the national costume and a barely-there swimsuit.

I’ve probably just answered my own question. The Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games is an invitation to a city known for partying more than anything else. Certainly, the (mostly) men at the International Olympic Committee who elected it as host city back in 2009 found it an invitation too good to refuse: in the final round of voting for every tick given to Madrid, there were two for Rio.