A year earlier in Sochi, Vizer had sent shockwaves through the entire sports world with his fierce attack on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its President Thomas Bach at the SportAccord General Assembly, prompting several International Federations to resign in protest. He was gone himself a little more than a month later.

Now, he had the microphone again. The room tensed. The stage was set.

The various members of the umbrella body were surely bracing themselves for what was coming next.

“You say we are totally supporting the Olympic Movement," he asked ASOIF President Francesco Ricci Bitti.

“We are the Olympic Movement and the role of the ASOIF should be to coordinate, correct, help and support implementation of different IFs in dealing with organisers.

"In the case of Rio [2016], we feel we have been the victim of voting and political decisions and how we now need to clean up things which are not ready in time, or things that are affected by lack of budget."

Though his words didn’t quite provide the fireworks we may have originally hoped for, his message was still laced with an implied jibe at the bigwigs at the IOC, particularly over their Agenda 2020 reform process, which some still feel is proving to be providing more rhetoric than concrete evidence.

Vizer had released his own 20-point agenda shortly after his speech in Sochi proposing radical alternatives to the IOC’s effort, including prize money at the Olympics and an overhaul of the revenue distribution system. His choice to step in once again was a sign to the rest of the sporting world that the current head of the International Judo Federation has no plans to back down on his views on Bach and co.

Last year’s events still resonate through the Olympic Movement - we are unlikely to witness such a targeted and stinging outburst ever again at SportAccord Convention - and for a while had prompted Vizer to keep a much lower profile than usual. His re-emergence back onto the platform of vilification would not have gone unnoticed over at the IOC. 

Of course, Vizer being Vizer, he wasn’t quite finished there, as he also offered an intervention on meldonium, joining the list of suitors to have heavily criticised the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for their handling over the heart-attack drug. A lack of scientific evidence concerning how long it stays in the human body has left the organisation, led by Scotland's Sir Craig Reedie, red-faced to say the least.

“I am always in favour of clean athletes," Vizer said. “But, we can be confronted with legal situations.

"We, the IF, have to sanction athletes, and face consequences of decisions being made by you [WADA] not being made in accordance with procedures.

"How shall we proceed in cases of sanction or suspension when it looks like we have no chance [of winning]?”

Yes, we had been preparing for much more from Vizer, but his interventions raised a key question; was it a solitary occurrence or should we be geared up for the possibility of further input from the man who divided SportAccord, potentially beyond repair?

Vizer, who has been conspicuous by his absence from the sporting stage since that fateful morning in Sochi last year, wasn’t the only ASOIF member to hit the headlines this week as old-school administrator Ron Froehlich stepped up to deliver a damning assessment of the gymnastics test event for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

The long-time sporting official, who headed the International World Games Association for over two decades and remains an honorary President of the body, raised “serious concerns” about the competition, which also served as the final qualifier for this year’s Games. Among his chief worries were the lighting and power - “there were power outages when the athletes were performing, which is a series issue” - as well as the Omega scoring system.

The response from Rio 2016? A flat, deadpan presentation from Organising Committee President Carlos Nuzman, delivered in a far from inspiring tone which lasted no more than five minutes, despite the 100 Days to Go mark drawing ever closer. As soon as he graced the stage he looked as though he would have preferred to have been anywhere else but here and his speech didn’t exactly spark confidence in the room.

I had managed to collar him in the SwissTechConvention Center in the coffee break and the terse nature of his response highlighted a man who is truly feeling the pressure as we veer towards the Opening Ceremony on August 5.

“There are no serious concerns,” he replied bluntly.

“You at insidethegames are always twisting things and it is not good for anybody,” before walking off in contempt.

Little did he know it but his sidekick Agberto Guimarães, the Rio 2016 sports director, was about to contradict him completely when the meeting resumed as he inherently admitted they were aware of the problems.

In fairness to Nuzman, it is perhaps no wonder he may be feeling a bit hot under the collar. The International Gymnastics Federation was just one of many to express their fears about the state of preparations at Rio 2016, hardly allayed when ASOIF President Ricci Bitti said in his dour tone: “We have some problems to get to the finish line.”

World Rugby admitted Rio 2016 “were not quite where they wanted to be”, while the International Tennis Federation, led by likeable American David Haggerty, are also far from satisfied with the way things are going.

Of course, much of these problems are cosmetic and will dissipate into the humid Brazilian air by the time the sporting action - which is at the centre of the whole Olympic Games, something often forgotten by many - comes to the fore. It will only take a world record from Jamaican sprint king Usain Bolt to ensure the Rio 2016 garden is rosy again.

The common view is that Rio 2016 is going through the usual Olympic motion of fears being raised in the immediate build-up to the event, essentially to give organisers the proverbial kick up the backside needed to ensure the Games are delivered as promised.

Yet the fact that two prominent IOC officials - sports director Kit McConnell and Executive Director for the Olympic Games Christophe Dubi – are set to move permanently to Rio de Janeiro next month in an attempt to speed up preparations suggest the concerns are not just prominent within the International Federations. Even the top brass appear to be fearful.

Much like Vizer, the level of denunciation and disapproval levelled at Rio 2016 by the IFs didn’t quite match the heights of previous editions of the SportAccord Convention, notably the 2014 event in Belek, where the Organising Committee were brutally attacked from all angles. But, privately, the respective sport’s governing bodies are understandably frustrated with the current state of play.

It was not just when Vizer began to speak that the respective sports bodies waited with bated breath. Now, they will hope Rio 2016 can walk the walk after talking the talk for so long.