SKANDIA Team GBR is the British Sailing Team in the Olympic and Paralympic classes.

The team consists of the Performance Squad and Development and Transitional squads, which jointly total around 70 sailors. The sailors train and compete across 10 Olympic Classes – Finn, Laser Radial, Laser, 470 men and women, 49er, Star, RS:X men and women windsurfers and women’s Match Racing.

The three Paralympic Classes are the Sonar, 2.4mR and SKUD18.

Great Britain is the world’s top Olympic Classes sailing nation with the British Olympic team sailors topping the medal table at the past three Games in 2000, 2004 and 2008.

In a Dorset Echo column, members of the 2012 team are bringing insight into their campaign for glory.

Here Andy Hunt, Team GB Chef de Mission and BOA Chief Executive reveals that ‘knowledgeable, passionate sports fans’ are the key to success: FOR the athletes aiming to represent Team GB next summer, the past year has been one of intense preparation.

These are sentiments shared by those of us at the British Olympic Association (BOA) who, working in partnership with the National Governing Bodies, are responsible for making certain every detail has been considered to give Team GB athletes the maximum opportunity to succeed when it matters most.

I firmly believe in the benefit of analysing performance data to provide insight into our progress towards one of our primary objectives for London 2012, which is to see Team GB athletes win more medals across more sports for over a century.

We have recently reviewed the data for 2011 across all World Championship and other relevant World events and rankings in every Olympic discipline for 2011.

This shows Team GB finishing in sixth position with 59 medals across 13 different sports in what would be a relative Olympic medals table – compared to fourth position at the Beijing Games.

But there is still considerable work to be done.

First, we must ‘protect’ as many of those 50-plus podium finishes as possible, which is an extraordinary challenge given the fact that some nations - principally China - typically don’t send their top competitors to major international events in the years preceding an Olympic Games.

Second, we must convert a greater percentage of British medals into gold, which is the measure by which placement in the Olympic medals table is determined.

Third, it will be important to translate some of the fourth, fifth and sixth place finishes from 2011 into podium finishes for 2012.

Simply said, one of the key elements to the success of Team GB at London 2012 will be the unwavering support of the most knowledgeable, passionate sports fans in the world – and we will do everything possible to make the most of this not-so-secret weapon.