When I appeared on a panel of journalists from international publications recently, the moderator asked us to nominate our big story for the next year.
One of the panellists suggested the UK parliamentary elections. A second mentioned the continued ramifications of the financial crisis. I said Brazil, which I was about to visit for the first time.
Consider, I said: Brazil had come through the financial crisis in reasonable shape. It was sitting on a vast deep-sea oil find. It had just seen the world's biggest stock market listing this year – the $8bn flotation of part of the Brazilian arm of Santander. It would also be host to the world's two biggest sporting events: the 2014 football World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games – which Rio de Janeiro had won this month over Tokyo, Madrid and Chicago.