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Team GB have work cut out to match Beijing medal haul, says chef de mission Hunt

Updated: 14:49 EST, 15 February 2012


The head of the British team for the London 2012 Olympics has warned that Team GB will not have the element of surprise that helped them to fourth place in the medal table in Beijing.

Andy Hunt, chief executive of the British Olympic Association and chef de mission for Team GB, said maintaining that position in the medals table will be 'really tough'.

He wants more sports to contribute to the medals, with athletes in the fourth to sixth places in the world fine-tuning their performances to secure a podium place. Golden dreams: Team GB returned as heroes after the previous Games in Beijing

He said: 'In Beijing we caught a lot of countries by surprise. No-one else had really analysed how much advance had taken place in the British high performance sporting system.

'We also caught international federations by surprise do because they did not expect us to win as many medal spots in a particular sport and cycling for example have done things to address that ability.

'No country is going to get caught out by Team GB again, there are not going to be surprises for any other nation.'

Hunt believes that Britain will beat the 47 medals achieved in Beijing but that the key will be winning more than the 19 golds of 2008 - for the medal table is based on gold medals.

He added: 'I am absolutely confident that we will deliver more medals from more sports than in over a century. Repeat performance? Hunt says no one will underestimate British atheletes on home soil

'I am also very confident that we have the ability with everyone's focus to translate many of the silver medal opportunities into gold medals.

'We have the potential to do it but it is going to be no small challenge to maintain fourth place in the medal table.

'I am not saying it isn't possible, and it is our aspiration to do so, but it will be really, really tough.

'If you look at 2011, 45 per cent of the medals that Australia won at world championships were gold and the Olympic medal table is based on gold medals.'

Hunt believes the difference in London is if other sports start delivering more medals rather than Team GB relying on cycling, rowing and sailing to produce the bulk.

He mentioned triathlon as a sport where Britain has the current world champions in Alistair Brownlee - with his brother Jonathan runner-up - and Helen Jenkins, but has never before won an Olympic medal.

Hunt said: 'The challenge for us is now not just delivering in the sitting-down sports where we have performed very well, it's about delivering in some of the others.

'Triathlon is a very good example where we have often performed well at a world championship medal but we have not had a medal at Olympic level.

'That is a sport we have focused on making sure they have every opportunity to be successful.'





London 2012 Olympics: Matching Beijing medal haul will be tough, says Andy Hunt




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