In the words of Hello! Magazine, the British Olympic Ball at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Friday night was "The Ball of the Year", and who am I to argue?

It was certainly a special night of Olympic celebration and it was a privilege to enjoy the company of over 60 British medallists alongside celebrity stars from the worlds of entertainment, music and business, and we were thrilled to be joined by HRH Prince Harry as our guest of honour.

The event was a tremendous show of support for the British Olympic Association (BOA) and Team GB.

In between the dancing and merriment was a serious raison d’être - as an independent organisation that relies solely on private funding, the British Olympic Ball is a crucial fundraiser.

Funds raised will enable Team GB athletes to make the most of the once-in-a-generation opportunity of competing right here in London in 2012, so I was delighted that hopefuls including Jessica Ennis (pictured), Zoe Smith and Daniel Keatings were able to sit alongside Olympic legends such as Steve Redgrave, Matt Pinsent and Jonathan Edwards and see first hand the terrific level of support and passion that exists for them to succeed in London.

The event was bigger and better than ever before and many of the business leaders and distinguished guests in the room were generous with their support, which enabled us to raise a significant six-figure sum from the night and make this our most successful Olympic Ball.



The following morning I was up early and on my way to the Echo Arena in Liverpool to see Great Britain’s women’s handball team take on Italy in the Four Nations Tournament.

An impressive performance saw GB win 31-21. The victory over Italy represents a very credible result and a real breakthrough.

It was encouraging to see the progress and improvement being made in a sport like handball, where we do not have a strong Olympic tradition.

An Olympic discipline since 1972, handball was voted ‘best sport’ at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and is one of the most popular Olympic sports in the world, with major championships attracting a TV audience of over one billion.

Seeing top class international handball live, you can understand why.

Handball is a fascinating, fast-paced and physical team sport with goals galore.

It certainly has the attributes to capture the imagination of the British public in 2012

A quick dash across the M62 then took me to Manchester for the Taekwondo British Championships where GB athletes claimed an impressive three gold medals from a high quality field consisting of 500 athletes from 53 nations.

Taekwondo is another high action, high speed sport and the home crowd cheered gold medals for GB’s World Number One and European Champion, Aaron Cook, Bianca Walkden and Tony Grisman, who beat current World Champion, Mohammad Motamed.

It was also great to see young Jade Jones in senior competition, fresh from her gold medal triumph with Team GB at last month’s first Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.

At both the taekwondo and handball it was inspiring to see the spirit and attitude of the British athletes, competing with commitment, dedication and passion.

It’s the same spirit that was present at the British Olympic Ball - presented by BT - where fans of Team GB were keen to do their bit to support our nation’s athletes on the road to 2012.

Now there are less than two years to go to 2012, or 95 Mondays, you can really feel the momentum and the sense of anticipation building across the length and breadth of the country.

London 2012 represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Team GB athletes, for sport, for our nation.

I, for one, am incredibly excited and energised but we won’t rest on our laurels.

As we say at the BOA - Better Never Stops.

Andy Hunt is the chief executive of the British Olympic Association