I will always remember 2010 as the year that, after more than 11 years at UK Sport, I was made its chief executive.

The circumstances were unexpected - John Steele was a terrific leader and we were very settled, but it was not surprising to any of us that those qualities were recognised byhis old sport and first love, and he moved to become Rugby Union's CEO.

I was delighted to takethe helm at this crucial time in our history, and to work alongside our inspirational chair, Baroness Campbell.

Indeed John moving on was one of several things that could perhaps have threatened to destabilise UK Sport in the past year. As an organisation with a dependency on funding from the public purse, we were also at risk of significant reductions throughout the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR).

While the arguments for retaining investment in our core responsibilities - supporting athlete performance, staging major sporting events and improving our international relations and development opportunities - were many, and London 2012 presented an obvious reason to maintain our activity, there was no guarantee that we would emerge unscathed.

That we largely did was due first to the clear evidence of success to date, the progress of the performance system and the detailed case presented by UK Sport; and then some equally robust defence of our role by Minister and officials at the Department for Culture Media and Sport. We and our funded sports and athletes owe them sincere thanks for ensuring that our mission to 2012 and beyond can remain on track.

We also owe thanks to all those members of the public who buy National Lottery tickets as each purchase contributes to Olympic and Paralympic success. As we move into 2011 and 2012, the National Lottery will play a more vital part than ever in support of the high performance sporting landscape, alongside Exchequer funding and private sector funding such as that being generated by Team 2012.

The certainty we received through the CSR showed itself in the performance funding decisions we made in early December as a result of our Annual Review of investment. We could not only be clear about how we saw the remaining journey for sports through to London, but also start to focus more on the road to Rio in 2016 and also confirm our investment in Winter Olympic and Paralympic success in Sochi 2014. For the first time, UK Sport now invests in Winter Olympic and Paralympic success in exactly the same way as Summer and the aspirations there have also risen.

The Annual Review decisions were made against the backdrop of some highly promising performances from our athletes in 2010. Through the year, in World and European championships, our summer Olympic sports racked up 103 medals in total, including Mo Farah (pictured) winning the 5,000 and 10,000 metres at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona, and the summer Paralympic medal haul was just as impressive, with 84 medals achieved despite their being reduced opportunity in some sports such as Para-Cycling with the cancellation of their World Championships.



Anyone involved in high performance sport will recognise that there is a good deal that you can plan for, measure and predict but there is also the element of the unknown, the moment of surprise, the sheer unpredictability of performance on the day. That is what makes it thrilling to be part of, and to follow. That's why we work with sports to agree their performance targets annually, using a range where the top end represents the very best performance possible, and the bottom end that below which the sport would judge themselves to have underperformed.

Even though it is impossible to be certain about outcomes, we should be confident about where we stand at this point in the London 2012 cycle. We are, in terms of the total medals won by an increased number of different sports, further ahead than we were before Beijing - indeed before any Olympic and Paralympic Games of the modern era. And while we are still inevitably reliant on the major medal winning sports of our top athletes, the rowers, cyclists, sailors and swimmers, we are also seeing the breakthrough performances that we will need to meet our London targets of top four for the Olympics and second in the Paralympics, winning more medals in more sports than ever before.

Olympic sports like boxing, canoeing, gymnastics, hockey and taekwondo were given increased funding earlier this month not just because of their performances this summer but because there are genuine prospects for further medal success from sports committed to doing what it takes to maximise the opportunity London 2012 presents.

So the signs are very promising, and everyone at UK Sport is therefore looking forward to the next year ahead. We have hard work to do, alongside our key partners in the high performance system,to make sure that we build on the great year we have just had.

Through our "no compromise" investment strategy and the performance monitoring of Mission 2012 we will target our support where it has most impact and will make sure the public and private funding entrusted to us continues to reach those athletes and sports with the most potential to medal and make the nation proud.

We will continue to support them with our world class athlete support services, not least the coaching, talent ID and research and innovation programmes that have been so influential on the performance system since before Beijing and indeed are now focused more and more on the period beyond 2012.

We also have a hugely busy and exciting year ahead in Major Events, with our programme of World and European level events enhanced by our close involvement in LOCOG's test event programme. And our international teams will continue to drive British engagement and influence overseas, notleast through our continued worldwide impact of London 2012's official international development programme, International Inspiration.

Alongside all of this we will continue to argue positively sport's role in society and the benefits it can bring, to develop Team 2012 and our commercial opportunities, and play our part in delivering a structure post-2012 that brings us together with Sport England in a way that benefits sport andmakes us more efficient, without compromising our high performance focus.

Lots to do then, a hugely busy year awaits. When I think about what might have been this past year, and what in fact came to pass, we have never had a better opportunity to make a real difference.

Liz Nicholl is the chief executive of UK Sport