British Olympic chiefs are confident of a significant improvement in their medal haul at Beijing but have played down predictions they could overhaul Australia to finish in fourth place.

The minimum UK Sport expects the British team to achieve in Beijing is 35 medals and eighth place in the medal table, with 41 their stated ideal ambition.

Great Britain finished in tenth place in Athens, with nine gold medals, and are targeting fourth in London 2012, but the British Olympic Association are refusing to set a specific target for these Games.

"We do have a very strong team, better financed and better resourced than ever, and I believe this will deliver the goods and we will move significantly forward from tenth," Colin Moynihan, the BOA chairman, said at the team's pre-Games launch in Beijing today.

"For a number of sports we also want to see real progress towards 2012. We are confident we will move forward from tenth but it would be unwise to speculate how close we will get to fourth.

"At Athens, the combined margin of five British golds being silver medals was only 0.545 seconds, that shows how close it can be."

Gerry Sutcliffe, the Sports Minister, says Team GB need to prove they are value for money at this summer's Games. Unprecedented levels of funding granted by UK Sport has allowed Team GB to ensure it will take the best-prepared team in Olympic history to Beijing.

That financial backing has allowed the majority of sports to introduce full-time programmes as well as a full compliment of support staff with the wider goal of claiming Britain's highest-ever medal haul at the 2012 Games in London.

"If you look at it from public finance, we've put £500 million into elite sports and what we've got to try and do is make sure there's a recovery of that in terms of the outcomes," Sutcliffe said.

"It wasn't a target that we put to UK Sport, UK Sport themselves decided that's what we should expect from the amount of investment that's gone in. Every Games is a Games in its own right and you want to see success. I think that we would hope to see that expectation met.

"I think people have recognised the amount of investment that has gone into sport over the last 10 years but they will certainly measure that by outcomes and that's why these Games will be important because we've handed the opportunity to give the athletes time to train.

Whatever the outcome of an Olympic Games that gets underway in three days' time, Sutcliffe is convinced Britain has adopted the right approach in their bid to increase their medal tally.

"Very much so. Cycling decided ten years ago to have a fresh look at their sport, what they needed to do and I think that's been true of most sports," he said.

"UK Sport and the investment that has gone in has enabled us now to have a look at each sport and see what needs to be done through the performance directors. Clearly a full-time approach is a lot better so we will now see if that comes to fruition."