KEY POINTS:
Prime Minister Helen Clark says New Zealand got fantastic value for the money it put into its Olympics team and a bigger commitment was likely for the next Games.
"I don't begrudge a single cent of the money spent preparing our athletes for the Olympics," she told reporters this afternoon.
Government agencies put an estimated $80 million into Olympic sports in the four years since the Athens Games. New Zealand got nine medals - our best since Seoul 20 years ago.
"I think most Kiwis would feel very proud of the achievements of the team."
Sport and Recreation New Zealand (Sparc) would now review the team's performance and how its funding had contributed to that, but a boost in funding was likely in the lead-up to the Games in London in 2012.
"We'll need to see the detailed debrief ... and look at how much needs to go into the next effort.
"The reality is you can't compete at this very top level of international sport like the Olympics as a gifted amateur. You have to have the whole envelope of support around you - and that costs."
She believed investments had been paying off.
New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) president Barry Maister yesterday called for more to be poured into high performance sport.
Maister, also an Olympic selector, told reporters the NZOC was happy with the three gold, one silver, five bronze haul from Beijing.
The medals came off the back of Sparc investing $60 million into its high performance programme since 2004 and another $10 million a year into other programmes of which probably over half were Olympics related.
"We're happy," Maister said, when asked how he felt about the return.
"We can never be totally happy, the world is moving on in terms of performance and if we stay still we will get further behind, so what that means is that in our review - which will take place when we get back - we have to look for another edge."
If New Zealand got complacent, the result in London 2012 would not be as good, he said.
Sports that had sustained international programmes would succeed, the others - mainly smaller sports - would not, he said.
Maister expressed general disappointment in team sports - soccer, hockey and basketball.
- NZPA
