National coach John Wright-Diaz wore a sorry look of dejection after seeing all hopes of a British taekwondo medal disappear with Sarah Stevenson's defeat in her opening match.

Stevenson, who narrowly missed out on a bronze medal in Sydney four years ago, was heartbroken when her Athens Olympic dreams were ended by a marginal split-decision after her match with Venezuelan Adrian Carmona ended in an 8-8 tie.

The 21-year-old from Doncaster, a former world champion, was Britain's last hope of a medal following the prior exits of Paul Green, Craig Brown and Sarah Bainbridge.

And Wright-Diaz did not mince his words afterwards, claiming some of the athletes had been distracted by the grand stage.

"I think it was a mixed situation at this Olympic Games," said Wright-Diaz, a former European champion.

"Paul got injured and some of them are inexperienced like Craig.

"The others, I think they were looking around more to be in the Olympic Games more than focusing on the fight, because at the end of day it is a fight.

"Maybe we wanted too much. We qualified the maximum four places but we only had six contenders and the truth is that we haven't got a natural selection."

Wright-Diaz, who competed for Spain at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, also made an embarrassed plea for more funding and for training programmes to be set up to help the development of the sport in the UK, although he added that in turn more commitment was needed from the athletes.

"One year ago we were in a top 80 in taekwondo, now we are much better," said Wright-Diaz, who has been in his post since 2002.

"Now the people were thinking 'these guys are doing well'. But it's the Olympics and you need more support and more programmes to deal with this level.

"It's not only about money, it's the players as well. They have to be more committed in what's going on.

"You have to work with them, there is nobody behind to push them to perform.

"Yes, it's a young team. Three of them are just 21 years old, so it's not only negatives.

"I think we achieved a lot and we have proven there is a future for taekwondo in the UK.

"But I hope now the people have to support it and give the money. That's now the next question.

"We need the natural selection that other countries have. Without that it's very difficult."

After her defeat, Stevenson was forced to sit in the stands clinging to the hope that her conquerer would plough an unlikely foray to the final.

That scenario would have allowed the Briton the lifeline of a crack at bronze via the repechage competition.

It failed to materialise though and she was left to reflect what might have been in her second stab at the Olympics.

"I'm a bit relieved and upset but it's all over now," said Stevenson.

"But I did really want to win gold, I wanted to win a medal at least, but it just didn't happen for me.

"I didn't really know if I'd won it or not to be honest, I was just hoping and praying that they were going to give it to me. But they didn't and that's just the way it goes."

Stevenson, who was the first female to compete at the Olympics for Great Britain in the sport as a 17-year-old, had the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee replaced after injury in March 2003 and only returned to action last December.

Although she was delighted to be in Athens considering the injury, Stevenson could not hide her massive disappointment.

"My knee's been fine actually, but I'm just happy that I even made it here at all because about a year ago I couldn't even walk," she said.

"I am only 21 but this is my second Games and maybe I'll not get another chance again.

"Of course I'm going to work hard to aim for Beijing. I'll try my best and hopefully I can do it."

British taekwondo team manager Gary Hall stressed that the performance was not all doom and gloom, pointing out the fact that Britain have medalled in every other major international event in the last 12 months, including three medals at the European Championships.

"I think you have to think about where we've come from," he said.

"The British team has gone from being 80th in the world to the top 20s and 30s.

"We are medalling on what we call limited support. Our budget is nowhere near the size that it maybe should be, but the team with an average age of 21 has done phenomenally well.

"The future of British taekwondo, should it get the right support, is very, very good."