Consisting of precisely 50 airplane flights, it ranged from the high of covering a first Olympic and Commonwealth Games, to the low of three broken laptops and the realisation - during a mountain-top funicular ride to end a two hour journey to the Sochi Cross Country and Biathlon Centre - that I was wearing my boss's identical company jacket and had thus commandeered his wallet, credit card and any means of him eating, drinking or travelling for the rest of the day...

Here are some of the other highlights in the topsy-turvy world of sport politics.

Running theme of 2014:

• A year which began so promisingly with a six-strong 2022 Olympic race soon began to falter with the withdrawal of Stockholm followed by the rapidly escalating crisis in Ukraine. But that was only the beginning, as over spring and summer we had the farce of Krakow's referendum-fuelled nightmare followed by the ever-escalating aggression of the anti-Oslo 2022 lobby, with all records for comments on insidethegames stories broken. By October we had something of a damp squib, with the two bids remaining from Almaty and Beijing low on drama and energy. Yet, you certainly couldn't have predicted how it played out this time last year, so maybe there are many more twists and turns left over coming months.

• Agenda 2020 must be the most uttered phrase in our stories this year, as the year-long reform process seems to have impacted virtually every topic. At the centre it all was International Olympic Committee boss Thomas Bach, speaking again and again about "pieces on a jigsaw" and "getting couch potatoes off the couch". The culminating Session in Monte Carlo, where all 20+20 recommendations were passed, was slightly farcical, and after spending all year writing about how Bach must be judged after it, we are now saying he must be judged again in another 12 months when the impact of some of the changes is felt. But it has certainly shaken things up, within international governing bodies and bidding cities alike.

• Although I have not covered it quite as closely as the other two, 2014 has, in a sports politics sense, been all about the drama, and sheer ridiculousness of FIFA. We had luxury watch-gifts, Presidential contest "will-he-won't-he's", and then the Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022 corruption allegations, and last week's resignation of chief investigator Michael Garcia. In Britain, Blatter and FIFA's reputation is now roughly on a par with Kim Jong-un. Elsewhere it remains slightly better, but some gaping unanswered questions remain. We don't expect much more to come to light in 2015, but we can certainly expect more in the way of allegations, excuses, fun and games.

Love him or hate him, Sepp Blatter has been an omnipresent figure in 2014 ©Getty Images





Best stories of 2014

• Problems with Rio 2016 preparations was something of a theme as far back as April and May, but I will always associate it with a meeting during the SportAccord Convention in Belek, where, after being initially disappointed I was stuck indoors rather than involved in a journalists versus PR consultants beach volleyball match, I witnessed the excitement of International Federation after International Federation standing up and registering their complaints. Then IOC vice-president John Coates claimed preparations were "the worst he had experienced", before virtually every day brought with it a new gripe, with pollution, security, anti-doping problems all under the microscope as well as construction delays.

• The case of British-Iranian student Goncheh Ghavami, arrested for attending a World League volleyball match in Tehran in June, before being belatedly released on bail 154 days later, became something of a hobby-horse for us at insidethegames. It certainly provoked strong opinions, in defence of Iran as well as of Ghavami, but after a shaky start, the International Volleyball Federation and its under fire President Ary S Graça - now accused of corruption during his time at the Brazilian Volleyball Confederation - gradually improved their response, and surely helped speed up her release.

British-Iranian student Ghoncheh Ghavami was another often-mentioned figure in our stories this year after being arrested for attending an FIVB World League match ©Change.org



• The question of Kosovo's Olympic inclusion has been an unofficial insidethegames campaign since well before my time, but after visiting in May for only the country's second-ever international football match, it was a crusade I like to think I took up with panache. And to our surprise, the IOC Executive Board took it up as well, and then the membership-at-large. It wasn't a decision without criticism, but for the sake of athletes and Olympic opportunities, it was the right call, and perhaps the IOC's best achievement in 2014.

Best sport of 2014

• While most people remember the Winter Olympics for the ice hockey, or maybe the downhill skiing or halfpipe snowboard, for me it was all about the tension, tactics and sheer absurdity of curling. My favourite moment was watching in a press room with most of the British press corps, as Britain skip David Murdock hit what turned out to be a brilliant winning shot, only for all the journalists to be silent for about 10 seconds before the first person realised the consequences of what had happened. 

• The best sporting atmosphere, however, came in Incheon at the Asian Games baseball final, as hosts South Korea played Taiwan. This was a notable exception to a Games that generally failed to capture the imagination of the locals, and, although I barely had the faintest idea what was going on, and never got to see a home run throughout the match, I loved my first experience a sport now set to return to the Olympic programme at Tokyo 2020. 

South Korea's home baseball gold at the Asian Games was one sporting highlight of the year ©Getty Images



• There were a number of great moments at the Commonwealth Games, including some stunning finals in athletics, hockey and cycling. But - and to pick something different - a third highlight was September's Archery World Cup Final in Lausanne, a sport which, compared with curling and baseball, was blissfully easy to understand and with a scoring format guaranteeing close and tense matches. The boiling hot weather certainly helped as well.

Best places of 2014:

• It's not the safest city in the world, but there are few more beautiful, iconic, or packed full of character than Rio de Janeiro, the next Olympic host city. I doubt everything will be perfectly ready on time, and there are bound to be delays, disorganisation and general chaos, but I still think Rio 2016 could be a unique and memorable Games nonetheless.

• As the location for my first overseas trip last year, I will always have fond memories of Nanjing, but despite the blandness of the city in memory ways, the Summer Youth Olympic Games was a good combination of impeccable organisation and genuinely passionate and excited volunteers. It was different from an adult Olympics, but all rather good fun.

• It might seem a surprising choice, but during a whistlestop two-day visit to see Doha's preparations for its World Athletics Championship bid, I have to say I was wowed by the Qatari capital, and its unparalleled sports facilities. Questions still hang over many of the bids it has won, but I have no doubt Qatar will continue to stage impressive sporting events, including a certain football one in 2022.

Best press conferences of 2014:

• I wasn't actually at Tokyo 2020 press event in Sochi, but I was receiving live updates as new bid leader Yoshirō Mori was first asked why a bid supposedly showcasing a "new Japan" was headed a bunch of old men, and then why he did not speak in English. After he replied: "I don't because it's still thought of as the enemy's language", Tokyo's PR man called a premature halt on further questions. It was probably a wise move.

• But for sheer tension between the speakers, a joint-event attended by International Ice Hockey Federation President René Fasel and National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman topped the bill. The best moment was when Fasel's claimed "there is nothing like an Olympic gold medal", only for Bettman to interrupt and add: "Except, perhaps, winning the Stanley Cup." If looks could have killed.

René Fasel (left) speaking alongside Gary Bettman during the Winter Olympics in Sochi was a broadly harmonious, but slightly tense, affair ©Getty Images



•  And there was the farce of Usain Bolt's press conference appearance at Glasgow 2014, as many of the Commonwealth's battle-scarred hacks turned into whimpering celebrity stalkers. "Can I have a selfie?" asked one. "Usain, will you wear a kilt?" asked another. And then we returned to business. "What are your views on Israel and Palestine," the great sprinter was asked, "and on Scottish Independence?" A journalistic low, but it certainly bemused Usain, if nothing else.

So, after all of this, what can we expect in 2015?