Rio Olympics 2016: Team GB told to come home from Brazil with at least 48 medals by UK Sport after £350million investment
BRITAIN’S Olympic team has been told to come home with at least 48 medals - the best ever away haul - from Rio next month.
And the Paralympic stars need to deliver at least 121 gongs - MORE than the record achieved at London 2012.
UK Sport, which hands out lottery funding, is targeting 47-79 Olympic medals in Rio. Britain won 47 medals at Beijing in 2008 and a record 65 in London, including 27 golds.
Originally UK Sport chiefs wanted to do even better than London and become the first host nation in history to push on at a subsequent Games.
But Simon Timson, director of performance at UK Sport, admitted on Thursday: "Our original promise was hugely ambitious to motivate the high performance system. Over the last two years it has become a more realistic, evidence based target is a best away Games ever.
"Sixty six medals is still within range if all the stars align. It's possible but not probable."
Athletics has been set a target of 7-9 medals with cycling told to come home with 8-10 medals despite its technical director Shane Sutton quitting just weeks ago in a sexism storm.
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Swimming, which saw its funding slashed after failing to deliver a single gold medal at London 2012, must get 3-5 medals to avoid further cuts in the run up to the next Games in Tokyo in 2020. Archery and weightlifting are the only sports not expected to medal.
Former British athletics head coach Charles van Commenee told SunSport last month he believes medal targets are becoming meaningless in the wake of the doping scandal engulfing London 2012.
The outspoken Dutchman led the athletics team to glory at the London Games with six gongs including four gold medals — three on Super Saturday.
He still quit his job having set a personal target of eight medals for the team including a solitary gold.
He replaced Dave Collins who was SACKED after the Beijing Games when he failed to meet a target of five medals instead winning just four at the time.
But Goldie Sayers is now set to be up-graded to bronze in the javelin with Martyn Rooney and his 4x400m team-mates also on course for bronze after
Russian athletes were among 31 found doping when samples from EIGHT years ago were re-tested. That brings the tally to six already.
UK Sport has invested £350 million into Olympic and Paralympic sports over the past four years.
Liz Nicholl, chief executive of UK Sport, said: “Targeting a record-breaking away Olympic Games and a Paralympic medal haul that surpasses that of London 2012 shows the ambition and talent within our high performance system."
Paralympics has been ordered to deliver 113-165 medals ideally beating the record 120 won at London 2012.
Tim Hollingsworth, Chief Executive of the British Paralympic Association, said: “The medal target is challenging but it is achievable."