Lynn Davies has told Britain's under-achieving athletes they must take responsibility for their performances at the World Championships - and challenged them to set the record straight at next summer's Olympic Games in Athens.

UK Athletics, the governing body of the sport, will come under fire after Britain won just two silver and two bronze medals at the ninth World Championships, which ended in Paris on Sunday.

However, former Olympic long jump champion Davies, who is the current president of UK Athletics, does not believe his organisation should shoulder all of the blame.

''Accountability lies with the athletes because they take the last few steps alone,'' said Welshman Davies.

''They walk on to that track and you cannot do it for them. Either they have a strong mind and self-belief - which is the main quality you need to perform at this level - or you haven't.

''When I competed as an athlete there were no World Championships, but the Olympic Games were my measure of success, not Grand Prix meetings, and they have to take that on board.

"We have to sit down with them and say, 'Next year the Olympic Games are your number one priority.'

''At the end of the day when Dwain Chambers or Christian Malcolm runs his race they are accountable.

''I told the team they would not get a more severe examination of their mental and physical qualities than the World Championships or the Olympic Games, and that they should seize the opportunity for a lifetime best performance. Some did and some didn't, that is human nature.''

Chambers was favourite for gold in the 100 metres but finished fourth, and he should have anchored the 4x100m relay quartet to gold but got edged into second place.

Malcolm disappointed in the 200m, as did Daniel Caines in the 400m and Ricky Soos in the 800m, whereas in the women's team Natasha Danvers came up short in the 400m hurdles.

In the field events Carl Myerscough failed to live up to expectations in the shot and Steve Backley was way below his best as he missed out on a javelin medal.

The British team needs to land seven track and field medals in Athens or the sport risks losing its lottery funding, and UK Athletics will be taking a leaf out of Sweden's book in the run up to the Olympics by concentrating on the elite athletes.

The Swedes put the majority of their resources into their serious medal hopes, and were rewarded at these championships with golds for heptathlete Carolina Kluft and triple jumper Christian Olsson.

David Moorcroft, chief executive of UK Athletics, said: ''There are 26 athletes on my list of potential Olympic medallists but a lot of them are long shots.

''If there are 15-20 people capable of winning a medal in Athens then you sit down with all of them, not just the technical director and the athlete but all the people who influence them - the coach, the agent, medical team, a whole array of people - and look at what can be done differently, what are the obstacles and how do we remove them.

''At the moment there is disappointment, but there is incredible optimism. We would all be far more worried if we weren't looking at athletes who we felt can win medals and believe can win medals."