Paris 2024 Chef de Mission Anna Meares said Australia will again not have a medal target in France ©Getty Images

Australia's Paris 2024 Chef de Mission Anna Meares has revealed the country will again not set a medal target at next year's Olympic Games.

The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) challenged its athletes to finish in the top five at Rio 2016, but they only won eight gold medals to finish in 10th place.

This was Australia's poorest performance at the Games for 20 years and a medal target was scrapped for Tokyo 2020, where the country won 17 golds and came sixth.

"We won't have a medal goal," said Meares at an event in Adelaide which saw Australian athletes hoping to reach Paris measured for uniforms, have accreditation photos taken and receive key information.

"If I had the opportunity as an athlete not to have a medal target, I think I would have felt a little bit of a reprieve around the pressure of performance.

"And it would have allowed me to just go out and do my thing."

Meares, a double Olympic gold medallist and 11-time world champion in track cycling, also confirmed that Australian athletes would leave Paris within 48 hours of their competition ending.

This will continue a policy adopted in Tokyo, but one which has led to criticism from those who feel it will deprive athletes of a full Olympic experience.

Australia performed much better at Tokyo 2020 after scrapping its medal target ©Getty Images
Australia performed much better at Tokyo 2020 after scrapping its medal target ©Getty Images

"Paris is like the new norm of the Olympic Games,'' Meares said.

"They really have a big focus on sustainability and affordability, and as a result they're reusing and refurbishing a lot of venues to save in those areas.

"As a result there's a lot less beds, there's a lot less seating in the stands, there's a lot less ticketing.

"To allow the athletes in the second week and the third week to come into the Village, to have their team with them, their coaches, their support staff, we don't have the beds to house them all.

"So we need the athletes from week one to move out." 

Today's event was held at the regional headquarters of tyre giant Bridgestone, a member of the International Olympic Committee's top-tier The Olympic Partner sponsorship programme and also a supporter of the Australian team.

Athletes in attendance included three-time world champion cyclist Matt Glaetzer and Australian number one beach volleyball team Chris McHugh and Paul Burnett.