NZ’s road to Olympic gold and how we’re paying

Gold medals are the top priority for HPSNZ at the Tokyo Games (Image: Getty)

Fri, 23 Jul 2021

New Zealand is on a string of expensive victories at the Olympics. Some $32 million spent at Athens 2004 netted five medals, $42m at Beijing 2008 saw nine medals return home. By Rio in 2016 that scoop of medals doubled, but the cash injection had gone exponential at $158.6m. The goal in Tokyo was similar to Rio: 16-plus medals. But every medal is no longer worth its weight in gold to NZ’s organisers. High Performance Sport New Zealand wants to convert bronze and silver into first place medals. More gold, less of the other stuff....

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