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Australia's turning point in Olympic history came at the Montreal Games in 1976 when the proud sporting nation failed to win one gold medal. The result triggered public outcry Down Under.

Aussies believed the sunshine, diet and out-door lifestyle was conducive to breeding elite sportsmen and women and during the 1950s and 1960s they were world champions in tennis, swimming, boxing and even motor racing.

However by the mid-1970s, the nature of sport had changed from an amateur pursuit to big business and this showed up in 1976. Two Australian gold medal hopefuls from the Montreal Games told the Australian media that major changes were needed.

Sprinter Raelene Boyle said: "What had happened was that the rest of the world had taken this huge kick along and moved away from us and we hadn't actually developed. We were holding jobs and being athletes whereas the rest of the world were being athletes."

Champion 1500m swimmer Steve Holland said many of his rival swimmers had been training full-time since childhood.

By the early 1980s, the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) was set up to restore national pride. The best training facilities were built and a worldwide search was conducted to hire only the best coaches. Within a decade, the gold medals started flowing.

Following the outstanding success of the Australian team in Athens, with 49 medals and fourth overall, the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) intend to send a full team of more than 500 athletes to Beijing. The goal of the 2008 Australian Olympic Team is to maintain a top-five position on the medal tally and win medals in numerous sports, 15 to be exact. The targets set by AOC replicate the success achieved in the same sports in Athens.

Swimming is one sport Australia has always featured strongly and in fact, over-arm freestyle swimming was called the "Australian crawl" because of early 1900s innovations of the Richmond Cavill, who copied the swimming technique from a Solomon Islands boy.

The recent retirement of Ian Thorpe has been a huge blow for the Australian swimming team. "Thorpedo" has been Australia's pin-up sportsman for many years and is also hugely popular in China.

However, when one star fades, another rises; and Australia has the luxury of drawing from a sparkling talent pool. Swimming stars Grant Hackett, Libby Lenton and Leisel Jones are all tipped to figure among the gold medalists. Because of the strong swimming squad, aptly named the Dolphins, Australia are always medal contenders in the relay events.

The bicycle may be synonymous with Beijing but cycling is another area of strength for Australia. Ryan Bayley and Anna Meares are strong favorites to repeat their Athens gold performances in the sprint events in Beijing.

In the equestrian events, gold and silver medal winner at the Sydney Games, Andrew Hoy, is strong gold medal hope in Beijing. Hoy has competed in every Olympics since the Los Angeles Games in 1984, the first year China competed at the Games.

Other gold medal possibilities include Melissa Wu in diving, former gold medal winner James Tomkins in rowing, world champion Emma Snowsill in the triathlon and the women's basketball and hockey teams.