What a year 2010 has been. Our motto here at the British Olympic Association is "Better Never Stops", however, the end of the year is a good opportunity to at least pause and look back at the landmarks achieved and to assess the many challenges still to come. The past 12 months have been an incredible journey and we have witnessed great progress on the road to London 2012.

First and foremost, British athletes have once again thrilled our sport-loving nation with their exploits on the field of play. Established high performing British Olympic sports such as rowing, sailing, swimming and cycling have continued to deliver multi-medal winning performances at world level. As a keen sailor myself, I was delighted to see GB claim a hat-trick of gold medals in the Melbourne World Cup event just last week, which included a clean sweep of the podium places in the Finn class led by triple Olympic Champion Ben Ainslie.

We have also seen very promising results from the likes of gymnastics, equestrian, athletics and hockey and real improvement in the performances of many of our less well-known Olympic sports, many of whom will experience the Olympics for the first time in 2012. There have been some fantastic breakthrough performances by young British athletes, including under-23 world triathlon champion Jonathan Brownlee (pictured) who is aiming to challenge his brother Alistair for a place on the London 2012 podium. The developing strength in depth across our Olympic sports is an encouraging indicator towards our ultimate ambition of Team GB achieving more medals from more sports than in over a century at the London 2012 Olympic Games.



Away from the playing arena, we have seen the dust and dirt of the Olympic Park be transformed into impressive stadium structures and it was inspiring to see the look of anticipation in the eyes of the GB slalom canoeists at the opening of their London 2012 venue in Broxbourne earlier this month. Importantly, the government should be commended for committing to continue the strong levels of funding for our elite athletes in these difficult economic times and the launch of the mass participation legacy plan "Places, People, Play" was another crucial landmark towards delivering the promises we made to the Olympic Movement during the bid in Singapore in 2005.

Here at the BOA the pace of change has been astronomical. It's strange to think that it's just 14 months since we entered our new offices in Charlotte Street and started a new – and perhaps the most important - chapter in our history. During 2010 we have prepared and led Team GB successfully to the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games and the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. We have raised vital funds for British athletes via Team 2012 and hosted the Ball of the year, according to Hello! Magazine. While doing this, we have restructured and grown the organisation to get into shape to take on all the challenges and opportunities of being the Host National Olympic Committee.

On Christmas Day there will be 580 days until the Opening Ceremony in London and we at the BOA, just like the athletes, will be making the most of every day to ensure we are ready to perform to the best of our ability in 2012.

Andy Hunt is the chief executive of the British Olympic Association and Team GB Chef de Mission for London 2012