Olympic legend Daley Thompson says only an athletics gold medal for Great Britain will make London 2012 a success for the home nation.
Double Olympic gold medallist says Brits must hit gold to make London a success
Olympic legend Daley Thompson says only an athletics gold medal for Great Britain will make London 2012 a success for the home nation, but is confident they can rise to the occasion.
Decathlon king Thompson knows all about grabbing Olympic glory after winning gold in 1980 before then defending his title in Los Angeles four years later.
China did not manage to grab a track and field gold when hosting the 2008 Games in Beijing, and that did not detract from the success of their Olympics.
Thompson, though, says it is different with Team GB having a much better tradition of claiming athletics gold medals than the Chinese.
For London 2012 to be a success, Thompson insists Team GB must bring home some gold, but he is confident the athletes will step up to the plate in front of their home fans.
Gold standard
"I think for us, if we don't win a couple of medals, or at least one gold, it will be seen as not quite as successful as it could have been," said Thompson.
"But I think our kids will come up trumps, and we'll do even better than we think. If we get four or five medals then we've done really well. But hopefully we'll get even more than that."
An early success could be the catalyst to something special for the host nation, and Thompson says heptathlete Jessica Ennis could provide it, being Britain's big world talent along with triple jumper Phillips Oduwu.
"In the last year or two (British athletics) seems to be picking up," Thompson added to
Reuters. "We've still only got one or two people who are top of the world or thereabouts in Phillips Oduwu and Jessica Ennis.
"I'm just hoping we can get a medal early in the Games, and I think Jessica is first or second day, and if she wins that'll really help the team and push them on."
Home soil
Although he reached the very top of his sport, Thompson would have loved the chance to compete in front of home fans, something he would have relished but could add too much pressure for some.
"The only thing I didn't do as an athlete was compete in England and it would have been fantastic to have had the world's biggest sporting event in my back yard and everybody supporting me instead of the others," he added.
"And I hope the kids get to make the most of it, because it's gonna be great but it's gonna be tough.
"It just depends on your personality because some people cope, some people don't even notice it and other people find it a struggle.
"I just hope that the one's that are on the borderline, fall on the right side and perform really well and add to our medal tally."
