The 1992 Olympic 100 metres champion has been marginalised in Britain since his positive drugs test for the anabolic steroid nandrolone nine years ago.

He served a two-year suspension and is now banned from having an official role with Britain under the rules of the British Olympic Association (BOA) that prevents any convicted drugs cheat from representing the country in the Games/

Christie, who has been working in India during the Olympics as an analyst for a television company there, now wants to help them.

He said: "I would like to train Indian athletes."

India won three medals in Beijing, including their first-ever individual gold medal thanks to shooter Abhinav Bindra in the 10 metre event.

The other medals were won by wrestler Sushil Kumar and boxer Vijendra Singh, who was met by a crowd of several thousand cheering fans when he arrived back at Delhi airport yesterday.

India had taken more than one medal only once before, at the 1952 Helsinki Games where freestyle wrestler Kashabha Jadhav took bronze alongside the victorious men's hockey team, who have won eight gold medals but failed to qualify for Beijing.

Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Suresh Kalmadi said: "I'm very happy we have three individual medals and that too without hockey."

India, which made its Olympic debut at London when the capital last hosted the Games in 1948, has now itself set a target of 10 medals for 2012.

Kalmadi believes the Beijing success will help India to shed its image as a nation that cares only about cricket and inspire the country to greater things when Delhi hosts the Commonwealth Games in 2010.

He said: "We've shown our potential in various sports here which is good for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

"We will get a bagful of medals there and then we can go on to London."

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) today announced that it would donate £5.5 million to the National Sports Development Fund, which was set up in 1998 by the Government to mobilise resources for sports other than cricket, which is by far the most popular sport in the country, to help preparations for 2012.

A team of athletes from India spent the build-up to Beijing preparing for the Games by training and competing in Britain, basing themselves at Newham, one of the five Olympic Host Boroughs for London 2012.

Christie claims that India, the second most populous nation with the world with a population of 1.1 billion, is on the verge of making a major breakthtrough in the Olympics and claimed that they should look for inspiration to Jamaica, a country where only 2.6 million live but which won six gold medals in Beijing.

The Jamaican-born Christie said: "Their current performance showed that India has the talent to do well at the Olympics its just that it needs to be groomed in the right way.

"Earlier in Jamaica, we had to move out of the country and represent the country that we trained in.

"Now with Government lending complete help to sportsmen and women, Jamaican have ruled this Olympics.

"To continue the good show these athletes [from India] have to be preserved and trained so that they can continue their successful stint at every event they participate in.

"Now is the time to take sports seriously and not just be satisfied with three medals.

"Make it a point next time the medal tally doubles."

Gurbachan Singh Randhawa, a 110 metres hurdles finalist at the 1964 Tokyo Games, agreed the Beijing effort would boost Indian sport but criticised the standard of Indian coaches and poor planning.

"Why don't we learn some lessons from China?" he asked. "They have exceeded their medal target but we never achieve the goals we set for ourselves.

"Most of the athletes are trained by our coaches but they have obsolete knowledge," he told Reuters. "They should show interest, have the attitude to learn."

Most Indian coaches are appointed by the Government and often describe the system as slow-moving or biased. Most federation chiefs hold on to their posts for years and, in turn, blame lack of funds for their sport's plight.

Gurbachan Singh Randhawa, a 110 metres hurdles finalist at the 1964 Tokyo Games, agreed the Beijing effort would boost Indian sport but criticised the standard of Indian coaches and poor planning.

He said: "Why don't we learn some lessons from China.

"They have exceeded their medal target but we never achieve the goals we set for ourselves.

"Most of the athletes are trained by our coaches but they have obsolete knowledge.

"They should show interest, have the attitude to learn."

Steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal's foundation set up two years ago spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on select athletes, including Bindra.

However, its administrator feels federations should start functioning professionally if India is to see progress.

Manisha Malhotra, a former India tennis player, said: "We must get good systems in place to keep improving, at present there is no real system.

"It is not just the shortage of money.

"It is about spending it the right way, having the right people in the right place at the right time.

"I need to research for six months to get the right coach.

"Federations can do it with three phone calls but they don't care."