AOC gloomy about Australian Olympic prospects

The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) has painted a bleak picture of the nation's prospects at the 2012 Olympic Games, with a lack of funding for elite sports being blamed.
With just five months until London's opening ceremony, Australia remains behind in its bid for a top-five finish on the overall medal table, according to AOC Chef de Mission Nick Green.
Australia is also likely to field its smallest Olympic squad in 20 years as a result of the Olyroos football team failing to qualify for London, and amid doubt over the men's volleyball teams' progression.
Green told reporters at an AOC general meeting in Sydney, "since the Sydney Olympic Games there has not been enough new investment into sport.
"We are currently being outspent by other nations; (including) Great Britain (and) the German team."
Australia was originally forecast to take 420 athletes to London but that number could now fall beneath 400 for the first time since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, AOC Chief Operating Officer Craig Phillips told the meeting.
The AOC will ask the Federal Government to review elite sport funding after the London Games.
However, despite the smaller team, the 2012 medal target will not be revised down with Australian athletes currently ranked fourth or fifth in their sports being urged to lift themselves into medal contention.
Key to that could be beating Games hosts Great Britain and Green is relishing the fierce rivalry, stating "I'm looking forward to adding to the banter, to adding fuel to the fire.
"I think we enjoy a very strong, sometimes icy rivalry between the two.
"We respect that going into home soil for Great Britain and we know traditionally that those countries should win more medals than they do at previous Games."
Phillips said London was on track to stage one of the best Olympics ever, adding "they are well on track to really stage the best Games of all.
"Our assessment at this stage ... is this organising committee is up there with the very best we've ever worked with.
"They're on par with the Sydney organising committee."
Phillips believes that London's 70,000 Olympic volunteers will be a key factor in the success of the Games.