• Athletics World Championships

Team GB on the verge of new 'golden generation'

Charles van Commenee is quietly confident in Team GB © Getty Images

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UK athletics chief Charles van Commenee believes Team GB could be about to emulate the impressive achievements of the country's 'golden era', which included the likes of Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett.

Team GB head to Daegu for the World Championships with high hopes of success, with a number of athletes considered strong contenders for medals and the strength in depth of the squad bringing to mind the halcyon days of the two dominant middle-distance runners.

But only once, in 1993, have British athletes won three gold medals at the competition - with Sally Gunnell, Linford Christie and Colin Jackson triumphant on that occasion.

Van Commenee is targeting seven medals - including one gold - from the championships this time around but, with the likes of Phillips Idowu, Dai Greene and Mo Farah all among the top competitors in their respective disciplines, there is hope the team can fare even better.

"I've always seen the golden era as a benchmark," Van Commenee said. "The fact that I was asked to run the British athletics team meant a lot to me because of the performances of the generation of Coe and Ovett. I started this thinking, 'Let's do better than them'.

"[Now] It's a possibility. We're not too far off."

An often divisive figure in the media, Van Commenee is aware that events in Daegu are an important barometer ahead of the real target - London 2012 next summer.

"Athletics is an important sport in Britain and, when we are in London, at the end of the Games, people will consider it a success or a failure based on the medals won or lost," he said. "They will not say, 'But we had a great transport system'."

One of the favourites to claim a gold medal for Britain during the championships, Jessica Ennis, is comfortable with her billing and hopeful of her chances.

"I know I am regarded as the favourite here and I know I'm there to be shot at, but I was ranked No. 1 in the world before the last World Championships, too," Ennis told The Times. "In that respect nothing much has changed. I'm comfortable with that billing."

She is also happy that drugs tests will be compulsory for every competing athlete in South Korea.

"For the first time in history every athlete at a World Championships will have their blood tested in Daegu," she said. "You get random blood and urine tests, but this is unprecedented in its scale. It can only be a good thing."

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