Olympics: Sports Ministers Spark Fresh Ashes Conflict

An Ashes conflict has broken out on the eve of the Beijing Olympics, with the British and Australian sports ministers engaged in a spat over which country will collect the most medals in China.

British ministers, led by culture secretary Andy Burnham, have been talking up Team GB's medal prospects in the run-up to the games and suggested that the squad could overhaul traditional sporting rivals Australia.

Australia finished fourth in the Athens medal table, six places ahead of the British team. UK Sport, which has invested £235m of lottery and public funds in the team, has set a target of 35 medals in Beijing, a performance that would elevate them to eighth in Beijing. Should the team meet the stretch target of 41 medals, they could overhaul Australia.

On arriving in Beijing this morning, however, the Australian sports minister, Kate Ellis, suggested British athletes would choke in the heat of competition. Asked about the British challenge she said: "All I can say is I hope their athletes can handle pressure because their Government is putting it on their shoulders in pretty heavy loads at the moment, and I hope they don't crack under it.

"Australians, we love a challenge and we love to exceed expectations and to punch above our weight and that's something that we have done on sporting fields and particularly in the past decade or so.

"The English to this point haven't really been up there with us but we know that they have been putting in a huge effort ahead of London and we know that there are enormous emerging challenges for the Australian team. But I'm not sure that they're ready to pip us just yet - we'll see."

Ellis met with her British counterpart, Gerry Sutcliffe, later in the day, and the pair agreed a wager that will see whoever is the loser having to wear opposition colors at the next Britain v Australia sporting contest.

Sutcliffe said: "It might mean me having to wear an Australian rugby league shirt at Old Trafford, which could be dangerous. But it's all healthy fun." The British Olympic Association chairman, Colin Moynihan, has also fixed a bet with his Australian counterpart, John Coates, which will see one bottle of champagne change hands for every medal that separates the two teams.

Speaking earlier this week Burnham said that the government's investment in sport was causing concern among other nations that have traditionally outperformed Britain. "Other countries and old rivals like Australia now look to us as a country that got serious about sport and are saying they are in danger of falling behind team GB in the medal table," he said.

With the US, China and Russia likely to dominate the top positions in the medal table, there is stiff competition for places in the top 10 from nations without the vast populations and resources to compete with the big three. Britain's commitment to Olympic sports is set to increase with the London 2012 games on the horizon, but ministers have implied that funding will be pegged to performances in the Beijing.

The British funding model is largely based on that developed by Australia in the run-up to the 2000 Sydney games that delivered unprecedented success.