Days later, severe concerns over preparations were raised at an Association of National Olympic Committees meeting in Kuwait and, a week after that fears broke out into the open in spectacular fashion during the SportAccord Convention in Belek.

The listing of grievances by several International Federation dominated the week-long meeting and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) consequently appointed a key lieutenant, former executive director for the Olympic Games Gilbert Felli, to keep a closer eye on proceedings.

Scarcely a day went by over the next month where another dissenting voice was not added, with the high-point - or low-point, as far as Rio 2016 were concerned - coming when IOC  vice-president John Coates claimed preparations were the “worst he had experienced” in his long association with the Games, quite a claim as this included the chaotic build-up to Athens 2004. 

Eventually this criticism was quelled and, so strong have the insistences been in recent months that all is now on course, many have suspected that some sort of D-Notice has been issued across the Olympic world in order to avoid more negative headlines.

With a proverbial kick-up-the-backside having been delivered once, they have since opted only for the supportive arm around the shoulder method.

This approach was underlined once again at last week’s IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur where, despite a nauseating presentation by Rio 2016 President Carlos Nuzman in which he acted as if the Games had already been declared the most successful in history, there was not a single question from any of the members in attendance.

Swapping his suit and tie for tee-shirt and shorts and departing for the beach - with media entourage in toe - just minutes following his arrival here from the Malaysian capital, IOC President Thomas Bach was similarly eulogising last week. In response to questions about officials having failed to meet those legacy pledges regarding Guanabara Bay pollution, he insisted Rio 2016 was overachieving on its legacy objectives, fulfilling some that were not part of the initial bid.

“You’ve been doing a great job for some years,” he told officials. “I’m sure that one year from now everyone will be enchanted by the passion of the Brazilian people, as well as the efficiency of Brazil.”

Once again, by actually being here you get a sense of all the good side of the Games, even if this “efficiency of Brazil” is very much a different definition of the term than Bach, as a German, must be used to. The beauty of venues such as the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas where this week’s rowing test event has been held is striking and cannot be denied, however.

Beneath the gaze of the mountain-top statue of Christ the Redeemer, the lake is nestled between hills and trees and the hustle and bustle of the city’s Ipanema district. It must be a far cry from the sort of freezing rivers in which many of the young rowers here have grown up doing early morning training sessions on.

The same can be said of beach volleyball at Copacabana, archery at the Sambódromo and football back in the Maracanã, while the venues at the two main Olympic hubs of Barra and Deodoro have their own unique charm.

In comparison with past and future Olympic venues in Sochi, Pyeongchang and Beijing, Rio de Janeiro just has so much character and for all the areas where Brazil will fail to match up with Russian, South Korean and Chinese organisers you just feel the Games will still somehow be a hit nonetheless.

Yet,  as I was reminded in a tweet in response to a message I posted about the rowing venue, appearance is not everything and we must look beyond the superficial beauty to evaluate the inner substance.

As One Year To Go celebrations unfolded last week, Brazilian officials are clearly in the midst of a powerful propaganda campaign to ram home the impression that everything is now on course, so it is difficult to probe beneath and find out what is really going on.

The issue currently occupying more column inches than anything else is clearly still water pollution, particularly at the Guanabara Bay sailing venue but also at the Lagoa, where canoe sprint will be held, as well as rowing, and on the triathlon and open water swimming course on Copacabana Bay.

Organisers have been frank in admitting this is the biggest lingering challenge with one year remaining. Too frank, you might say. “We’re delighted that the focus is now on pollution rather than other concerns,” one official told me.

Others have claimed how it is less of a challenge than the media are making out, insisting the competition venues are safe, how waters at other recent Games,  including London 2012, were similarly bad, and how athletes are all unconcerned by the apparent risks.

There is some truth to this, you feel, with Rio de Janeiro perhaps receiving stronger criticism simply because improving conditions was such a specific part of its appeal when bidding for the Games in 2009 against Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo. Officials are admitting that the 80 per cent limit has not been met, although they claim to have improved treatment by 50 per cent already and expect this to rise to 60 per cent by the time of the Games, a number treated with strong scepticism by other organisations monitoring the situation.

The slow speed with which the State Government got its act together to start physically collecting debris on the sailing course has also not helped, with no boats deployed to do this between February and July 1.

An Associated Press report late last month has cast doubt on the claim there are no risks for athletes and, on the contrary, after taking readings from many areas directly on the courses of these sports, they found a “major risk” of athletes contracting viruses. Rio officials have not quite taken what might be termed the “IAAF-approach” and completely rubbished the validity of a journalistic investigation, but you can see it came as an irritation nonetheless, and a clear deviation from the party line of "move along, there's nothing to see here".

Other less damaging reports, taken with the advice of the World Health Organisation, have been cited instead, while the somewhat confusing excuse that levels are worse after rain has been deployed. What if it should rain during the Games? Although it is true how most athletes, Britain’s Olympic triathlon champion Alistair Brownlee included, appear not to care less about the risk, that is certainly not enough to say it is not an issue. For some athletes, and the aforementioned athletics doping allegations is evidence of this, are certainly willing to go beyond what is considered safe and advisable in order to compete at an Olympic Games...

Esteemed swimming coach Bob Bowman has also listed his “grave concerns” after attributing longstanding illnesses suffered by US swimmers Chip Peterson and Kalyn Keller to their participation in the open water competition at the Rio 2007 Pan American Games. Keller was forced into an early retirement the following year after contracting Crohn’s Disease, Bowman claimed.

A number of rowers were reported ill after the World Junior Championships, mostly with one-day gastro problems, the International Rowing Federation has told insidethegames. The fact officials have also been caught up has led them to conclude it has nothing to do with the water, however.

It is certainly an issue that will continue to cause concerns over the next 12 months and it will be interesting to see if it proves as safe as the likes of Bach have predicted.

In one sense, though, organisers are right in saying that the focus on pollution concerns implies good progress elsewhere and on the whole it is impressive to see how much construction has come on in those 15 months of so since Coates’ critical words.

At a time when Brazil is faced with almost overwhelmingly bad news: economic misery, unprecedented corruption probes and ever-escalating poverty and violence, without even mentioning 7-1 World Cup defeats, the Olympics is increasingly becoming something to be proud of. This is shown by how Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is increasingly attending Rio 2016-events in what appears a desperate attempt to be associated with something positive.

Learning to do things on time and on budget will be an “intangible” legacy associated with the Games, Rio de Janeiro's flamboyant and popular Mayor Eduardo Paes has proclaimed, something previously alien to Latin American cultures.

Speaking in a hard-hat at a press conference inside the Barra Olympic Park to coincide with the One Year To Go celebrations, the Mayor, tipped as a future possible Presidential successor for Rousseff, went through venues one-by-one, giving a percentage of completion amid a claim of how each one will be ready either this year or in the first quarter of the next.

Given how construction at the second major Games hub at Deodoro had not started until well into last year, progress there has been swift and the Mayor was bullish about how the venues there are now on schedule, with the outdoor courses for canoe slalom, mountain biking, and BMX all “79 per cent” completed and due for opening early next year.

In Barra, while some are nearly completed - “You could play a handball match today if you wanted to," according to the Mayor - others still have a lot of work remaining. The Tennis Centre and Velodrome are two that have attracted most concerns. Both were in the 60s rather than the 70s on Paes’ percentage dial, with him admitting they had faced difficulties installing the roof at the Velodrome. It remains on time, he insisted, with only the more straightforward final sections of work at the Tennis Centre left, something he hopes will be done in the next two months.

You got the impression that some of these percentages were essentially clutched out of thin air. The 95 per cent figure for the Broadcasting Centre, for example, is misleading because it must be fully completed by September in order to give the Olympic Broadcasting Services enough time to install all of the necessary studios planned by television companies from around the world.

The other which caught my eye was the 98 per cent figure for the much-maligned golf course, close to, but not in, the Barra de Tijuca Park. “I could have given this 100,” claimed a bullish Paes before conceding: “We do still need more sunlight." With legal battles with environmental groups solved, all the grass is planted and - helped by a warm Brazilian winter so far - growing well, although not yet fully “matured”, things do seem rosier. Yet the test event scheduled for November has been pushed back to a single-day event next year, with the course growth thought to have contributed to this along with timetable congestion and other concerns.

From talking to officials in rowing and equestrian, the two sports in which test events have been taking place, both have candidly admitted there have been challenges and frustrations but insist they are pleased with where they currently stand. More work lies ahead, the installation of two floating grandstands at the rowing and the renovation of 180 stables at the Equestrian Centre, for example, and while you feel teething problems will remain during the Games, you feel most things will be ready on time, just about.

Similar problems existed before other Olympics. Athens faced as many challenges with a year-to-go, as arguably did Sochi, and even London had to call in the military two weeks before the Opening Ceremony after late security hiccups.

Aside from construction, security in Rio de Janeiro remains another challenge. You certainly have to be very careful and there will surely be instances of muggings and other “low-level” crime during the Games, while the risk of terrorism is still important despite the lack of a Brazilian precedent in this regard. Large numbers of the military police on the streets will add reassurance and the success of the security operation at last summer’s FIFA World Cup has made organisers confident the city will be similarly safe next year.

Glanders, a deadly horse disease I knew nothing about two-days ago but now consider myself something of an expert on, is another risk, which has contributed - along with the expensive cost of sending teams - to no foreign riders attending the misleadingly titled "Aquece Rio International Horse Trials" test event. Seemingly appropriate contamination measures have now been installed, but the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply hardly helped by not setting out official protocol until it was too late for teams to enter.

A final word on legacy.

As well as the failure to meet pollution requirements, it is clear the Games has made little difference to lawlessness, poverty and the favelas, with some residents even forced to leave their houses to make way for Olympic-related construction. A protest movement under the slogan “Olimpiadas para quem?, meaning “Olympics for whom?” has come to the fore in the last week and has vowed to continue activity over coming months. In comparison with Russia ahead of Sochi 2014 and Azerbaijan ahead of June’s European Games in Baku, Brazil does seem to have faced less criticism of human rights abuses that it perhaps deserves, and it will be interesting to see if this now gathers pace.

It is estimated that in Rio de Janeiro alone there are 1.4 million people living in favelas, where sanitation is poor and proceedings are often dominated by gangs immersed in illegal drug trafficking.

There have been some positive legacy benefits and in particular the new transport infrastructure, shown in various Games-related projects, including the new “Transolimpica” line linking Deodoro with Barra, will massively reduce journey times and consequently improve lives. New hotels, the closure of a landfill sites and various educational projects, including many to increase English-language use,  will all also make a difference. There are also plans are in place to utilise the venues further after the Games have left the city, including to use one in Barra as a site for a school. 

Clearly then there is a good side and a bad side, but on the whole I stand by with what I wrote after my first visit and I do still believe Rio 2016 will be a success.

Speaking in the same press conference last week, Paes made a plea for his city to not be judged by the standards of all other hosts. "Rio is Rio,” he said. “You must compare Rio now and Rio post-Games with Rio in 2009. The level of development has still not - and will not - reach the levels of some European countries."

Association of Summer Olympic International Federations President Francesco Ricci Bitti, one of the  foremost critics of Rio 2016 last year, summed this up rather more neatly at a recent meeting with the IOC in Kuala Lumpur.

“We are confident that at least in terms of atmosphere and cooperation, the Games will be a success,” he concluded, tellingly not referring to some other organisational aspects.

This for me rather hits the nail on the head. Rio 2016 will be a different sort of Games, prioritising character over efficiency, but the clear progress over the last few months has suggested how, by hook or by crook, they will get there by next August. The latest IOC Coordination Commission inspection, due to start tomorrow, will mark the next major test.