Australia's display in Rio de Janeiro will be "the first true test" of the policy implemented to restore the country's international standing following the disappointment of London four years ago, and one of the men behind the strategy accepts that it will be judged on the medal count in Brazil.
The Winning Edge high-performance strategy was introduced after Australia's worst performance at an Olympics since Barcelona in 1992, significantly changing the way in which federal government funding was allocated through the Australian Sports Commission and transforming the role of the Australian Institute of Sport.  
Four years on and with data provider Gracenote Sports last month forecasting a top-four Australian finish at Rio with a record 18 gold medals the policy could end up being anywhere from celebrated to decried depending on how the team performs over the 16 days in   August. 
More than $370 million will have been distributed to sports and direct funding to athletes during the four-year cycle to Rio by the time the flame is lit in the Maracana Stadium. On Monday, the AIS releases its annual Sports Tally, detailing the total investment to each sport and targets set for them, with athletes and sports watching closely knowing how important hitting those numbers are to guaranteeing the same or more funding in future. For example, swimming, a sport that the AIS counts as a success story of Winning Edge, is receiving $11.3 million in the year leading into the Games and has been set a performance target of nine to 11 medals in Rio.  
Whatever the swimmers and Australia in general end up with Matt Favier, the AIS director, is fully prepared for the usual retrospective divisions on how much each medal Australia wins cost the taxpayer. In London, where Australia finished 10th overall with seven gold medals and 35 in total, the numbers were crunched to put the price at about $10 million a medal.
Favier knows that the Olympics is where the 10-year program will be most scrutinised, particularly two years after Australia's slip from top spot at the Commonwealth Games.  
"This will be the first true test of Winning Edge ... to determine if in fact the route we've identified is the right one," Favier said.
"We want to remind people that it's not only every four years. One perspective might be that we spend a lot of money for the purpose of the Olympic Games and they do a crude arithmetic about what it costs per medal, which we expect to see coming out again.
"But in between times the stats on the number of world champions across the cycle, the number of medals that have been won by Australian athletes at world championship or equivalent events is pretty significant and that's all part of the Winning Edge allocation.
"But certainly we understand that that's the way a lot of people will view success or otherwise - the performance at the Olympic Games."
As for forecasts of a bounce-back from London to a best-ever gold medal haul in Brazil Favier is setting the bar high, although he is a little more circumspect than the analysts.
"The information that [Gracenote Sports] are referring to suggests to us that we've got the right firepower in terms of capacity to be competitive and achieve a top-five performance," Favier said. 
"Eighteen [gold] is probably on the high side - it would be the best ever performance from Australia if we landed 18 gold medals, from a gold medal measure.
"We think to be top five you need somewhere between 14 and 17. We think we can get close to 14 ... USA, China and Russia, those three nations will be the dominant top three. [Great Britain] were third in London but I don't think they are anywhere near the team they were. We think we're going to be very competitive with Germany, France, GB, Japan ... and they will be the nations that we will be battling out somewhere between fourth and seventh." 
AIS Sports Tally Olympic performance targets (medal and non-medal benchmarks for Rio)
Archery: 0 to 1 (medals)
Athletics: 2-4
Badminton: two pairs placed 9th to 16th
Basketball (men): 4th to 8th
Basketball (women) 1
Boxing place: 4th to 8th (x1)
Canoeing: 2-4
Cycling: 5-7
Diving: 1-2
Equestrian: 1-2
Football (women): 1
Golf: 0-2
Gymnastics: 0-1, place 4th to 8th (x3-5), place 9th to 16th (x2-3)
Hockey (men): 1
Hockey (women): 0-1, place 4th to 8th
Judo: 0-1, place 4th to 8th (x1)
Rowing: 3-6
Rugby 7s (men): 0-1, place 4th to 8th
Rugby 7s (women): 1
Sailing: 3-5
Shooting: 1-2
Swimming: 9-11
Table tennis place: 9th to 16th (x1-2)
Taekwondo: 0-1, place 4th to 8th (x1)
Triathlon: 0-1, place 4th to 8th (x1-2)
Volleyball: (beach) 0-1, semi-finals
Volleyball (indoor men): 0-1, place 4th to 8th
Water polo (men): 0-1, place 4th to 8th 
Water polo (women): 1
Weightlifting: place 9th to 14th (x2)
* Tennis, wrestling, fencing, synchronised swimming, modern pentathlon are not funded under the Winning Edge program.