BOA chief Clegg has not set a medal target for Beijing
The British Olympic Association has not set a medal target for 2008, although UK Sport expects Team GB to finish eighth in the medal table.
UK Sport, which distributes Lottery funding to Britain's Olympians, expects 35 GB medals, including 10 to 12 golds
But BOA chief Simon Clegg told BBC 5 Live: "We see these Games very much as a stepping stone into London 2012.
"What's really important for us is not where we finish in the medal table but the progress that all the sports make."
UK Sport, a public-funded body, has targeted cycling, athletics, sailing and rowing as the main contributors to Britain's medal haul.
But Clegg says it is more important for the British team to show real progress across all sports ahead of the Olympics on home soil in 2012.
"I fully accept that Beijing will be judged as a stand-alone Games," added Clegg.
"But for us in the BOA there's a much greater goal here and that's making sure we deliver in London in 2012 when the entire nation will be looking and expecting of us.
"We've set an aspirational target of fourth in the medal table for 2012.
"Of course we want success [in Beijing] and I'm confident that we'll have a good Games but progress, in the context of all the additional funding that's now going into the sports as a result of 2012, is really important."
Great Britain is sending 313 athletes to Beijing but Clegg has estimated that the number of home-grown athletes competing at the London Games will rise to 650.
The BOA has also sent some of Britain's up-and-coming athletes to Beijing to give them vital experience ahead of the bigger test in four years' time.
"We're trying to effectively bring a shadow team out here," explained Clegg.
"They'll be going to the Macau [holding camp] then coming on to Beijing; and more importantly they'll get an opportunity to see their own sport in competitive mode before London 2012.
"That should help break down some of the mystique and make them more prepared."
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