Britain led Russia in Beijing for most of the Games and were only passed on the penultimate day.

 

Then a late rush of gold medals from Russia took their total to 23, four ahead of Britain's 19 as they reached  the "aspirational" target set by the British Olympic Association (BOA) four years ahead of schedule.

 

Colin Moynihan, the chairman of the BOA, who is on his way back from Beijing, will now sit down with the 26 sports that will make up the 2012 Games and reassess their target.

 

He said: "It would be foolish not to aspire to even greater heights, especially as the host nation.

 

"Sure, we've got to see whether or not it is feasible to move to third place.

 

"We haven't made a decision on that.

 

"But this is not a National Olympic Committee which is going to sit on its laurels, and nor are the athletes.

 

"We will want to make sure that we deliver the best for Britain in 2012, so we are going to be looking to go higher."

 

Russia's performance was the worst performance by a team from that country or the Soviet Union since the Stockholm Games in 1912.

 

Prior to the Games, a confident Leonid Tyagachev, Russia's Olympic Committee president, was targeting 80 medals, up to 32 of them gold.

 

Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has already demanded an explanation from Olympic officials, who are blaming the dismantling of the sports system that was built up during the Soviet era.

 

Another factor has been the improved worldwide drug testing.

 

On the eve of the Beijing Games, seven Russian middle-distance athletes, including several medal contenders, were banned from the Olympics after testing postive for performance-enhancing drugs.

 

There is unlikely to be any massive extra funds available to help Russia's team prepare for 2012, especially with the Russian Government targeting the 2014 Winter Games, which are due to be staged in the Black Sea restort of Sochi.

 

Also in Britain's advantage is that in nine of the last 10 Olympics the host nation has improved its medal haul.

 

China, for example, won 59 per cent more medals in Beijing than they did in Athens while in 1992 when Barcelona staged the Games they saw a massive 450 per cent improvement [the only country to have gone backwards, surprisingly, is United States who when Atlanta staged the 1996 Games won seven per cent less medals than they had in the previous Games].

 

The Russians themselves won 56 per cent more medals when Moscow hosted the 1980 Olympics, although that was badly affected by a United States-led boycott.

 

Liz Nichol, director of performance for the Government's National Lottery distributor UK Sport, admitted that they may also revise their targets after Beijing when they sit down to decide how to distribute at least £521 million in funding during the 2012 build-up.

 

She said: "If you had asked me this two weeks ago, I would have said, 'Impossible'.

 

"The phrase we used was, 'Fourth in the medals is the best we can hope to achieve given a nation of our size'.

 

"But we look at these Games and what has happened to the Russians.

 

"If they are in reach then there's no reason to constrain our ambitions.

 

"In terms of 2012, nobody is going to be happy with the same again, but we need to be bringing that to life, probably through more medals.

 

"When we get back, we will be discussing 2012 targets with each of the individual sports.

 

"Then UK Sport will be setting a collective target as a result of that."

 

Cycling, rowing and sailing, who won 14 of Britain's gold medals, are probably already operating close to full capacity in terms of providing champions but there is still plenty of scope for improvement in a number of other sports.

 

Athletics, for example, won only one gold in what was its worst performance since 1996 and swimming will be looking for even further improvements after taking a massive step forward in Beijing with six medals, including Rebecca Adlington's (pictured) double gold.

 

Archery, badminton, equestrian and diving are all sports that failed to meet their medal targets for Beijing while judo and shooting, traditionally strong British sports, also underperformed.

 

Peter Keen, who many believe is the architect of Britain's current success having introduced the current system at cycling and who is now trying to persuade other sports to introduce it in his latest role as head of sport at UK Sport , said that he believes what happened in Beijing will mark a sea-change in Olympic sports in his country.

 

He said: "What you have seen for the first at these Olympics is a real system, a culture developing in British sport of excellence, a real belief we can take on the best in world and do it properly.

 

"It's been the proudest day of my life to think what it is to be British.

 

"I'm more convinced than ever of the power of sport for this country.

 

"What the money is doing is buying us a place in the race.

 

"It doesn't guarantee you a medal but it says you can have the basic things in place: the right coaches, the right equipment, the right training environment and to travel the world.

 

"For every Olympic event now just to qualify to be there is a three or four year process of building up, going to World Cup events, doing the [qualifying] times.

 

"What is starting to come across better and better now is the stories behind the medals, the amount of hardwork, the dedication and the people who work in the background. In the past it was always once every four years a few interesting people and it's over. "