UK Hopefuls Given Target of Eighth in Beijing Medal Table

UK Sport revealed for the first time yesterday that it is targeting an eighth-place finish in the Beijing Olympic medal table, a goal that may require British competitors to win as many as six more medals and at least one more gold than they managed in Athens when they finished 10th in the overall standings.

UK Sport is working towards an ultimate goal of a fourth-place finish in London 2012, a target set by the British Olympic Association chairman, Lord Moynihan, but until now it had not revealed its aims for Beijing. The BOA has refused to set a medal target for Beijing, insisting that those Games should be seen as a stepping stone to success in 2012..

The target was revealed to MPs yesterday at a hearing of the public accounts committee, which is scrutinizing UK Sport's management of its £600m budget in the build-up to London 2012.

John Steele, chief executive of UK Sport, confirmed that eighth was the target for Beijing, but rejected suggestions from MPs that it was a soft objective given recent performances in Olympic disciplines. According to the BOA's most recent comparative figures for Olympic sports, Britain finished seventh in a "virtual" medal table in 2007.

"The aim is to finish eighth in Beijing in the Olympics and second in the Paralympics. It is in no way a soft target and will require a step change in performance across British Olympic sport," he said.

The eighth-place target will be confirmed to the governing bodies of Britain's Olympic sports in July, when they will be informed of their individual targets.

The committee also raised doubts about whether the Department for Culture, Media and Sport would be able to raise £100m of UK Sport's funding from the private sector, a condition of the Treasury investment in sport before the London Games.

UK Sport has no rights to sell to potential commercial partners and can offer limited sponsorship opportunities, prompting questions as to how the money will be raised. The sports marketing agency Fast Track has been retained to examine ways to raise the money. Jonathan Stephens, chief secretary to the DCMS, confirmed there was "no guarantee" that the money would be found. "It is a challenging target and there are no guarantees but I think it is realistic, and the right time to start raising the money is after Beijing," he said. Any shortfall would place pressure on the London organizing committee and the government to make up difference.

In Beijing, the International Olympic Committee has confirmed that it will postpone endurance events if pollution poses a threat to athletes' health. The IOC's Beijing coordination commission team is making its final visit this week and air quality is one of its major concerns. According to data collected in August 2007, athletes in five endurance events including the marathon may encounter health risks if pollution is extreme.

"There can be a risk, but it's not big, for endurance events that last longer than an hour," the coordination commission chairman, Hein Verbruggen, said. "In that case we are developing a Plan B. We might delay certain events for a couple of days. But to do that it must be very bad."

China has spent more than £8.5bn on improving air quality and moving polluting industries away from Beijing, but concerns remain. The authorities plan to remove more than one million cars from the roads and partially shut down factories in the capital and five surrounding provinces for two months before and after the Games.

"The Chinese together with our medical commission have done an excellent job. They have scientifically proved there is no risk for the wide majority of sports," Verbruggen said.

In London the names of the remaining torch bearers who will carry the Olympic flame when it arrives on Sunday were announced. The Arsenal forward Theo Walcott was the most high-profile name and it was confirmed that Dame Kelly Holmes will carry the torch on the final leg into the Dome in Greenwich.

Protesters opposed to Chinese policy in Tibet and Darfur are planning demonstrations along the torch route through the capital.