Funding blamed for Australia medal drought

Australia is on course for its worst Games since Seoul in 1988, languishing in 24th place, with just one gold by the end of day nine.

It is seen as all the more embarrassing given the country's much smaller neighbour New Zealand has three golds while traditional sporting arch-rival Britain has 16.

Gosper said Australian athletes had been hampered by a lack of public funds and government focus and said more money needed to be spent on top-level coaches and elite athletes.

"We've been down on the sort of financial support that we were accustomed to when compared with the financial support that's coming through from other countries, particularly here in Europe," he told ABC radio from London.

"The fact is you do need more money in international sports and preparing if you're going to compete with the world."

While sporting programmes received nearly Aus$325 million (N$2.809 billion) in the 2010 budget, only Aus$52 million (N$450 million) was earmarked for Olympic-focused high-performance programmes –half of what the Australian Olympic Committee wanted, ABC said.

"The money is the difference between silver and gold," said Gosper.

Australia has struggled to turn silver into gold in London, with 12 second places to just one gold-medal success.

New Zealand media wasted no time in mocking their trans-Tasman rival.

"Hey, Aussies, we want to draw your disordered attention to a little line item on the Olympic Games gold medal table," Fairfax Media's website said in a comment piece.

"We're talking about the line that seems to have been censored in Australian newspapers; the line that puts New Zealand ahead of Australia, the self-styled world's greatest sporting nation."

John Coates, head of the Australian Olympic Committee, told the ABC that Australia had been aiming for a top-five position in London and admitted he was "disappointed in the total picture at the moment".

"We had a dependency on swimming, but you do need a number of sports in which you can multi-medal," he said.

Coates said more focus on sport in schools was the only way to find the next Ian Thorpe or Cathy Freeman.