Britain finished second at Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 and are now aiming for another top two finish at London 2012, where they will be competing on home soil and in front of a partisan crowd.

Hunter, who took up the role of ParalympicsGB Chef de Mission last September, admitted that it will be difficult for Britain to overtake China and take top spot on the medal table, but said that the support of the home crowd could help the athletes put in stunning performances and help them hold off the likes of Australia, who have said they are targeting British athletes.

"Our aspiration is to win more medals in more sports than ever before," Hunter told insideworldparasport.

"We have a great track record and we have finished second on the medal table at the last three Summer Games.

"To beat China would be enormously challenging.

"They won 89 golds in Beijing compared to our 42.

"Their disabled population is the size of the whole British population so they have a much bigger talent pool.


"That said, the team we have is enormously talented.

"We recognise that everyone is going to be gunning for us in every event.

"If you have big name athletes like Dave Weir (pictured above), everyone wants to beat them.

"But I think being at home and having the British public behind us will make a huge difference."

Hunter also said that he is delighted to see Paralympic sport in Britain becoming increasingly popular with the Games now fast approaching, with athletes like cyclist Sarah Storey (pictured below) becoming well-known figures.

"Another great thing is the positive engagement from the British public," he said.

"We are seeing huge amounts of media turn up to all of our athlete announcements while more tickets than ever have already been sold for the Paralympics.

"The stadiums now look like they will be full for the Games which is brilliant.

"One of the disappointing things in the past has been the lack of spectators at the Paralympics.


"When you looked at the great venues in Beijing in 2008 and saw them empty, it wasn't a great advert.

"This time, we know that a lot of the sports are sold out.

"But that presents a challenge for us because we must make sure that our athletes know what to expect.

"Competing in front of 80,000 people in some instances is massive and they are not used to it.

"So part of the education programme we are doing is making sure they are as familiar with that process as possible."

To read the full exclusive interview with Craig Hunter, click here.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]