British Airways, the official Team GB Olympic airline, has said that the team will not be able to fly back home until additional charges for the extra medals won have been paid for up front.

A BA spokesman told this newspaper: "The so called 'haul' of gold medals is heavy and it has got to be paid for. We had estimated for 10 gold, but this is getting ridiculous now."

"Each gold medal could cost an extra five litres of fuel to fly back to the UK."

Gold is one of the heaviest medals known to man.

The BA spokesman concluded: "The charge could exceed £25,000, but the team will not be able to fly home until it is paid. Our Australian shareholders are adamant that we charge them for this."