Britain will enjoy its best Olympics in living memory in Beijing, the minister in charge of sport claimed today.

Andy Burnham claimed the UK is on the brink of a new "glorious" sporting era and could beat Australia in the number of medals it takes home.

Australia came fourth in Athens in 2004 - behind the big three of America, China and Russia - winning 17 gold, 16 silver and 16 bronze, while Britain was 10th with 30, nine gold, nine silver and 12 bronze.

Mr Burnham backed predictions that British athletes could take a total of 41 medals this time. "This will be the biggest Olympics yet and the GB team goes into it better prepared than ever before," he said.

"Australia are saying Britain are the ones to watch," he said, adding: "Other countries now look to us as a country that got serious about sport and are now saying they are in danger of falling behind Team GB in the medal table." The total of 41 would beat any haul by British athletes in Games not marred by boycotts since 1920, when the Olympics were held in Antwerp.

Mr Burnham predicted that the tripling of funding between Athens and Beijing to a record £ 265million had given Britain its best chance. "We are about to enter a glorious new era for British sport and I hope success in Beijing will inspire the next generation of young sports stars," he stressed.

UK Sport, the government agency in charge of elite sport, has set a target of between 35 and 41 medals. Colin Moynihan, chairman of the British Olympic Association, said: "We want to go forward from Athens but it would be unwise to speculate how much further forward. What we can say is that compared to previous Games we have a team that is better prepared, better resourced and better financed than before."