The largest contingent of athletes ever to leave Bermuda gathered for an official ceremony yesterday, and all the talk was of winning medals.

Even though a significant proportion of competitors in the Island Games were unable to make the lunchtime Press call at the Hamilton Princess, there were still more than enough newly-tracksuited bodies to fill the floor of the conference room.

The first medal hopes depart tomorrow for Gibraltar, with the basketball and tennis teams ready to take on the best small island athletes on a level playing field that should see Bermuda do well.

The bulk of the team don?t leave until early next month, bound for the colder climes of Shetland, where they will cycle, somersault, shoot, boast, putt, spike and swim their way to what is expected to be a significant trophy haul.

?This is not a vacation,? warned Bermuda Island Game Committee chairman Jon Beard to the assembled media, sponsors and athletes, before revealing that more than $230,000 had been raised to send the athletes to their destination.

?There are no excuses, we are going to compete against Island of a similar population and similar problems as us.

?This is about coming up with the goods.

?If you do not get a medal, it must not be for the lack of trying or for the lack of preparation.?

Beard commended all the national sports governing bodies for their organisation skills and also thanked private and corporate sponsors as well as the Sports Ministry for helping to fund the gargantuan effort.

Each of the 14 teams were introduced individually, ranging from the giants of the basketball team, down to the diminutive gymnast Caitlyn Mello, with all posing for the cameras having thrown their new Team Bermuda tracksuits over their civilian ? and sometimes school ? clothes.

Sports Minister Dale Butler, when not joking about being Premier for when Bermuda hosts the Games in 2011, also issued a rallying cry for the athletes ahead of their trip.

?We commend all of you and all of the national sport governing bodies for all that you have done and wish you the best of luck,? said Butler, who is unable to attend the event this year.

?This is a step towards bigger things like the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics and we all hope you can do Bermuda proud.

?The Island Games is a great competition as it gives many of our athletes a chance to perform on the international stage. I look forward to seeing the athletes return with plenty of medals.?

Bermuda first competed in the biennial Island Games in Guernsey in 2003 and picked up an impressive haul of medals in that opening foray into the Olympic-style event.

The squad has grown this year and encompasses more athletes in more sports including a women?s football team that has never competed abroad before.