Clegg is hoping for the best

Fears that terrorists may target the Olympics have heightened in the wake of last week's bombings in Madrid.

And Clegg said he would be prepared to take the "ultimate sanction".

"We will not compromise the security arrangements for our team where we have responsibility for managing that team at the Olympic Games," Clegg said.

Clegg explained the BOA is in regular communication with the Athens authorities, receiving up-to-date information on the terrorist threat "as it might be at any moment in time."

"If the security situation demanded a change to the position of the BOA with the ultimate sanction of not sending the team to the Games then obviously as a responsible organisation that is something we would have to consider," Clegg told BBC Radio Five Live.

"But I don't envisage that situation to occur, and I am very excited at taking a full team to Athens this summer where I expect the British team to compete with distinction."

They realise they are up against it and there is no room for further delays Simon Clegg

Clegg admits the Athens organisers still have plenty to do to ensure the Games go ahead without hitches.

"Games like this do take a huge amount of preparation and there always seems to be frenetic activity in the weeks leading up to them every time we go," he said.

"Athens has got some particular challenges with a number of major infrastructure projects left until a very late stage. It is now a question of whether those will come on stream in time."

Clegg cited the delay in finishing the roof on the main Olympic stadium and the roof on the aquatic centre, while the company upgrading the road from Marathon into the centre of Athens has gone into liquidation.

"These are major issues that the new government in Greece will have to confront and redress," he added.