More than 50 Olympic medallists, including Sir Matthew Pinsent, Jayne Torvill, Tim Brabants, Denise Lewis and Sarah Webb, were joined by a selection of our brightest young talent aiming for Olympic success in Vancouver 2010, London 2012 and beyond.
 

Almost 600 guests attended the event, hosted by the Princess Royal, the President of the BOA.

 

Andy Hunt, the chief executive of the BOA, said: "I am delighted that a year on from the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games - our most successful Games in 100 years - and with just over 1,000 days until London hosts the 2012 Olympic Games, this year’s Olympic Gold Ball was the most successful in the event’s nine-year history, raising twice as much money as last year.

"Many thanks to the Olympians and hopefuls who joined us and the guests that made this fundraiser for Team GB and the BOA such a great success."

Hosts for the evening were BBC Sport Presenter Hazel Irvine and Jonathan Edwards, the 2000 Olympic triple jump champion, while Atos Origin, the worldwide information technology partner for the Olympics and a long-standing sponsor of the BOA, was the presenting partner of the event for the sixth year running.

 

One of the highlights was the auction, which included a painting from the esteemed British artist Sacha Jafri.

 

The painting was set on the Union Jack, including images of many Olympic events and London landmarks as well as 25 hand-prints, foot-prints and signatures from Britain's Olympic champions from the 1960s to the present day – among them Sir Chris Hoy, Sebastian Coe, Sir Steve Redgrave, Dame Kelly Holmes, Sir Matthew and Rebecca Adlington.

The funds raised at the Olympic Gold Ball will help fund preparations for next year's Winter Olympics and the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore, as well as London 2012.