“Team GB 2005: Countdown to 2012” analyses the 2005 performances of 35 summer and winter sports and collates the information into a relative Olympic medal table. The 2005 analysis ranks Britain in seventh place, above the 10th it achieved in Athens two years ago but still with a lot to do.

 

“The BOA is committed to maximising the success of Team GB at the 2012 Olympics,” said Simon Clegg, the chief executive of the BOA. “We must acknowledge our strengths in Olympic sport, but equally not shy away from any shortcomings.

 

“If there are gaps in performance then we must recognise those now, and work to support those sports in any way we can so that every Olympic sport – both summer and winter – has the chance to improve and succeed as a result of the Olympic Games coming to London in 2012.”

 

The reports make uncomfortable reading for several sports, especially athletics and swimming, the two biggest of the Olympics.

 

“Swimming and athletics will need considerably to improve their medal winning capacity in 2012, as with other sports where there are multiple medal opportunites, particularly with various weight divisions, sports such as weightlifting, judo and wrestling included,” Clegg writes in his forward to the document.

 

“Sports which have shown potential but have yet to enjoy Olympic success, taekwondo and triathlon for example, will be expected to deliver.”

 

Colin Moynihan, chairman of the BOA, described the report as “providing a sharp focus of where Olympic governing bodies are today”.

 

Clegg said that ultimately the success of the 2012 Olympics will be judged by the success of Britain’s athletes. “The public won’t care about how efficient LOCOG have been or how good the architecture is,” he said. “It will be about how athletes get on the podium.”

 

The report is due to be released every January.