The aim is quite simple: to ensure Great Britain becomes the first home
nation to deliver more medals at the following away Games.
At London 2012, Team GB won 65 medals (of which 29 where GOLD).
UK Sport, which determines how public funds raised via the national
lottery and tax are allocated to elite-level sport, has pledged almost £350m to Olympic and Paralympic sports between 2013 and 2017 – up 11% on the run-up to London 2012.
Those sports that have fuelled the rise in Britain’s medal-table
positions over the past eight years – athletics, boxing and cycling, for
example – were rewarded with increased investment.
Sports that failed to hit their 2012 medal target – including
crowd-pleasers such as wrestling, table tennis and volleyball – either
had their funding reduced or cut altogether
So far, on average, each GB medal at the Rio Olympics has cost £5.5m in investment
(golf, rugby sevens and tennis received no funding)
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/15/brutal-but-effective-why-team-gb-is-winning-so-many-olympic-medals