Sunday, August 24, 2008 - 9:28 PM

Australia's Olympians met expectations and provided an "outstanding" performance at the Beijing Olympics, according to John Coates.

The Australian Olympic Committee president says Australia's final medal tally of 46 is well within predictions, and reflects a result on par with Australia's past Games performances.

"We optimised our opportunities and we optimised our performance," Mr Coates said.

"The great majority of athletes had the opportunity to compete at their best and they did so.

"(I have) immense pride in the performances of these athletes. An outstanding performance."

Mr Coates said Australia had improved on its medal performance in Athens and looks set to finish sixth in total gold medals and fifth in the overall medal tally.

Australia had joined other countries improving on their performance - including Great Britain and the United States, while countries like Russia, Germany and France had performed below expectations.

Mr Coates said among his games highlights were James Tomkins's humility after he and the rest of the rowing eight failed to win a medal in his sixth Games; the domination of Australia's women swimmers in the pool, including Stephanie Rice's three gold medals; Steve Hooker's gold in the pole vault; and Ken Wallace's late rush to win bronze in the K1 1,000 metres kayak and gold in the K1 500m kayak.

Mr Coates says the emotional high point of the games was Matthew Mitcham's diving gold in the 10m platform.

"The poise and the focus of Matthew, and what he achieved was simply outstanding," he said.

'Well prepared'


Mr Coates said the team had been well-prepared for the Games and had benefited from special efforts to deal with Beijing's heat and pollution.

He says the next summer Games in London will be easier for Australian athletes - and he says bettering Britain's medals tally in Beijing will be a key motivation for the team.

"We don't have as great issues as we had here," he said.

"We knew the heat and humidity and pollution and those things were going to be a big issue.

"We are used to competing in Great Britain. All of our sports do it regularly.

"And the other great advantage that we have is that many of our sports have a base in Europe from which they can move across to London close to the Games."

The AOC predicted Great Britain would be better at these games but admit they have been surprised by just how good they have been.

The Brits have won 47 medals including 19 gold.

Mr Coates says he is determined to reverse the results in 2012.

"Great Britain isn't going to stay ahead of us. If they beat us in the Ashes, you want to go back and get them don't you?" he said.

"So that's going to be our goal in London."

Chinese challenge


Mr Coates paid tribute to the quality of venues prepared by the Beijing Games organisers.

But he repeated earlier criticism of ticketing policies, suggesting that it had robbed some events of crowd atmosphere.

He also expressed relief that Australian athletes had not used the Olympics to highlight human rights issues in China.

And he said Australia should not fear the continuing emergence of China as the dominant power at the Olympics.

China dominated the Games, finishing well clear of the United States on the medal tally.

Mr Coates said Australia should embrace the opportunity to compete against the best.

"Well we shouldn't be scared of competition, I think we should be very pleased to be engaging with China in sport," he said.

"A legacy of these Games is that Australians must have a better understanding of China.

"There would have been a lot of perceptions that would have been blown away."

Australia's team will depart on two chartered jets tomorrow and arrive back in Sydney on Tuesday morning with the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd expected to speak at a team reception at Sydney Airport.