Spanish Olympic Committee President Alejandro Blanco stuck to his prediction on Friday that Spain will win six gold medals at the Beijing Olympic Games.

Speaking to the Diario AS newspaper, Blanco remained true to his refusal to give a total for all the medals the Spanish would win in Beijing, but was confident about the number of golds.

"We are going to win six gold medals, at least five. But as these are my sixth Olympics, then I will say six," he told AS.

"I am very optimistic, the Games don't finish today or tomorrow. Only at the end will everyone have been able to show what they are worth. We have prepared for these Games with affection and also with a lot of effort so that nothing goes wrong and the competitors can relax," added Blanco.

He has spent the run-up to the Games highlighting the importance of hard work above that of winning medals. "Whatever we do in these Games, our sports people will carry on winning in other competitions. We are not going to be better or worse for the medals we win in Beijing," he said.

"The border between getting onto the podium or not is sometimes so subtle that you can win three medals or none at all without altering the level of your performance," he argued.

"I anticipate that the final result is going to be good," concluded Blanco.

(Xinhua News Agency August 8, 2008)