The qualifying standards set by UK Athletics for the event, due to take place in the Montjuic Stadium, which hosted the 1992 Olympics, will be the same as those used for this year's World Championships in Berlin, where the British team won two gold medals, two silver and two bronze.

Van Commenee said: "No-one ever jumped higher by lowering the bar.

"At this point in the Olympic cycle we are looking to prepare and shape contenders for London and therefore we want to use every major championship as a practise for that, applying the same principles and expecting the same level of performance.

"These higher standards mean those selected will be expected to make finals not simply to compete.

"We are looking for contenders, not pretenders."

The Dutchman claimed the Commonwealth Games, which takes take in New Delhi in October, would provide up-and-coming athletes with the chance to impress.

He said: "This year's Commonwealth Games presents an opportunity to athletes just outside UKA's European Championships criteria which will ensure developing athletes are given high quality competition at an international level."

A number of Britain's top athletes, including world heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis, have already announced that they will not compete at the Commonwealth Games.

Like many other top competitors, she fears picking up a stomach bug and also believes that the scheduling of the event, which is not due to start until October 3 2010, will cost them valuable time in beginning preparations for the 2011 World Championships, which will be held in Daegu, South Korea, the following August.

Ennis was joined yesterday by Kelly Sotherton, who announced that she would not be defending the heptathlon title she won in Melbourne in 2006 and that she expected to be joined by Phillips Idowu, the world triple jump champion.

But Ennis, Idowu and Sotherton have all already said that the European Championships will be their main priorities in 2010 as they seek their first gold medals in the event.

Besides the Soviet Union and East Germany, Britain are the most successful nation ever at the European Championships, having won 221 medals, including 84 gold, since the first edition was held at Turin in 1934.

But the team disappointed at the last Championships in Gothenburg when, during the ill-fated regime of performance director Dave Collins, they finished tenth in the overall medals table with 11 medals, only one of which was gold.

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