Team GB officials 'not panicked' by Olympic gold medal drought
London 2012 target of 48 medals – ahead of the total Beijing haul – is still very much in sight, promise Team GB chiefs
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Team GB's Rebecca Adlington had already won two surprise gold medals by this stage in 2008's Beijing Olympic Games. Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA
Team GB officials have urged the public and the media not to panic over their lack of gold medals by suggesting things will change on Wednesday.
But the executives responsible for funding British Olympic sport, UK Sport, have also admitted they are considering reducing by 10 their maximum medal target of 70.
The ghost of Lance Corporal Jack Jones from Dad's Army stalked the corridors of Team GB House, as officials insisted there was no need to worry over the home team's failure to so far notch up a gold.
"I'm comfortable with where we are, absolutely. We need to be patient and we'll see that the medals and gold medals will follow," said the British Olympic Association chairman, Lord Moynihan, after morning tabloid newspaper headlines that blared: "Wanted: Gold Medal" and a table that put Great Britain behind Lithuania and Georgia.
"When you look at the rowing finals, the cyclists and the sailors, we'll begin to have that core delivery of success. We're beginning to see, as we forecast, more medals in more sports – we delivered on thegymnastics," he said.
Andy Hunt, the Team GB chef de mission, added: "The athletes remain confident. There is no sense at all among the team that we are not delivering. We are on plan."
They are right in that the sports in which Britain has come to excel since the 2004 Games – track cycling, rowing and sailing – have yet to start doling out the medals. Some of those in which Britain is expected to win multiple medals, including the boxing, have yet to reach the finals. And some of those expected to add to the breadth of sports in which Britain delivers, such as taekwondo and hockey, have either yet to begin or are a long way from the business end.
The British team has long known it would have to deal with the fact public expectations have soared since their Beijing haul four years ago, and that having the home advantage would send them even higher. By this stage in Beijing, road cyclist Nicole Cooke and swimmer Rebecca Adlington had won two surprise golds, building the elusive momentum that would result in 19 in total.
Silver for Zara Phillips and the eventing team aside, there was more concern as David Florence crashed out of the canoe slalom before the finals and the pressure built on Ben Ainslie off the Weymouth coast in his attempt to win a historic fourth consecutive gold. Meanwhile the head of British judo blamed "excuses" and poor performances for their disappointing showing.
