I have been National Director at the English Institute of Sport (EIS) for over five years where I lead our "team behind the team" in helping sports improve their elite athletes’ performance through the delivery of science, medicine, technology and engineering. 

When I look back at where the EIS was just four years ago in the build up to London 2012, it is clear we have come a long way. Our relationships with UK Sport, the British Olympic Association (BOA), the British Paralympic Association (BPA) and the sport National Governing Bodies (NGBs) are getting stronger all the time. So things are looking good but there is clearly more work still to do if we genuinely want to have the world’s leading high performance system at home in the United Kingdom.

A major boost came for our high performance system in the Government’s recent Comprehensive Spending Review when Chancellor George Osborne announced a 29 per cent increase in Exchequer funding to UK Sport during the Tokyo cycle.  To say this is tremendous news is quite some understatement!

It means that we will have the resources to ensure that our athletes continue to be the best equipped and prepared when it comes to international competitions right through to Tokyo 2020. It is a huge vote of confidence in the high performance system in the UK, which is led by UK Sport but with a major contribution from the EIS and others.

It is great to have this security heading towards Tokyo 2020 but the next big focus for us is, of course, Rio 2016.

UK Sport set the very challenging target of becoming the first ever nation to win more medals after hosting the Olympics and Paralympics. It is too early to say exactly how many medals we will win in Rio 2016 but UK Sport will set a stretch target next year as the Games get closer and hopefully, a target of 66 Olympic medals and 121 Paralympic medals - one better than London 2012 for both the Olympics and Paralympics - will be within that range.

I think what people should remember is that at Beijing 2008, the last away Games, Great Britain won 47 Olympic medals and 101 Paralympic medals so when we look at Rio 2016, winning 66 Olympic medals and 121 Paralympic medals will be incredibly tough to say the least.

I understand exactly why that target was originally set by UK Sport because if we are to justify the large Government spend on elite sport in this country, we need to have exacting targets.

For the EIS, our role in the lead up to Rio 2016 will be focused on continuing our everyday service delivery, supporting the NGBs and meeting any last minute requests they have. We are not expecting an avalanche of late requests from sports because most of the innovations are already in train for Brazil.

What we need to ensure as we move ahead is that no mistakes are made between now and Rio 2016 and that the athletes we work with are fit, healthy and able to give of their best. Behind the scenes, our practitioners play a major part in ensuring this happens. There are some more high-profile projects, which I am not at liberty to discuss here unfortunately, but we must deliver these in time for the sports to work with the equipment ahead of their departure for Rio.

Before Rio, there will be a lot of noise about medal expectations and part of our job, as a key stakeholder in the high performance system, is to dampen that noise and make sure that performance directors, head coaches and most importantly the athletes are not distracted by that noise.

All these things and more will be discussed at the EIS National Conference, which takes place from December 8 to 9 in Leicestershire. As we head towards Rio 2016, our National Conference will be a fantastic opportunity to network, discuss with like-minded people how you can take your individual and team contributions forward and of course, have some fun!

For me, the event will be a great chance as we head into a Summer Olympic year to rally the troops - where appropriate - and talk about where I see the organisation going; not just between now and Rio 2016 but over the next five years. Clearly I have been to a few of these events now so it is up to me to pitch my speech correctly to staff and stakeholders so that they feel enthused, they understand the challenges and are prepared to take them on alongside our Senior Management Team and me.

Of course there will always be challenges that I want to share with staff and stakeholders but with the high performance system looking in great shape, I am far more optimistic than pessimistic as we look towards Rio 2016 and beyond.