Welsh members of Team GB have delivered a stern warning to the British public saying back us or back off.

Team GB have been stung in the build-up to the Athens Olympics by both the public's pessimistic reaction towards their medal chances and the media's prediction that only Paula Radcliffe will bring home a gold medal from Athens this summer.

But on the opening day of the Games, Christian Malcolm and Tim Benjamin have urged the British public to support rather then slate them during Athens 2004.

"To be honest with you people need to be less short sighted and look at the youth we have in this squad now, especially in athletics," said 22-year-old Benjamin.

"The likes of Linford Christie, Colin Jackson and Jonathan Edwards didn't break on to the scene overnight.

"Linford Christie was 28 or 29 when he emerged as a serious medal contender and with the youth in this squad we have to be given time to mature into the calibre of the those athletes I've talked about.

"If people just took the pressure off us a little bit we will start to grow and show what we are capable of and hopefully things will start to happen.

"But we need to be supported and not have people on our backs because it's not always about medals.

"If we get personal bests then we can't really do any better then that and as they say stars are born at games like this and you never know what anyone in this team can do.

"That is how you leapfrog on to the next level and we need to be backed in order to perform to our best."

Newport 200m sprinter Malcolm added: "Write us off at your peril. It's fair enough people are saying only Paula and Kelly will bring home medals in athletics because they are the only ones who have performed consistently on the world stage.

"But there is still plenty of talent left in this squad and any one of us could surprise people. It's time for a new crop of athletes to come through and show what we can do.

"Jonathan Edwards and Colin Jackson are history now and people need to realise there are some good young athletes in this squad that need supporting to bring the best out of them.

"We'll just see how we do, but I'm confident we can surprise people."

And performance director for UK Athletics Max Jones revealed how he had to send a letter to all the Team GB members to motivate them after the stinging criticism over the past few month.

"A few of them were pretty low and that is understandable considering the criticism they've had," he said.

"But I explained to them in a letter that despite everything that has been written I still believe in them and I feel that we can come away from these games with a lot of success."