Like most places, they love their heroes in Rio de Janeiro. And it can be an intense sort of affection. I witnessed it once when I offended the folk of Niteroi, a suburb which sits on Guanabara Bay and is one of the nearest points of land to Paqueta Island. About 10km by boat.
If you’ll indulge the tale, it was the thick end of two decades ago and I found myself travelling with a yacht race, which one day necessitated the writing of a story about the great Brazilian sailor Torben Grael. He’s a good man and a top athlete — a five-time Olympic medallist, the star of Niteroi, and one of his brothers is now the mayor there.