Australia is on track to restoring its status as an international sporting power with a 10 per cent Olympic funding boost set to reap rewards in Rio.
The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) says it's heartened by improvements shown from the $340 million it has directly funded summer Olympic sports in the four-year cycle to this August's Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The AIS has released its annual Sports Tally report card of Australian sporting performance, finding of 39 able-bodied programs in 33 sports assessed, 21 are rated "on track or better", compared to 15 in last year's report.
The AIS introduced a new funding strategy, Winning Edge, after the 2012 Olympics when Australia won its fewest gold medals in two decades.
Swimming gains the most AIS funding of any sport, receiving $11,271,000 million in the four-year period to Rio.
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Cycling ($9,868,080), sailing ($9,152,018), athletics ($8,678,900) and rowing ($8,234,400) round of the top-five AIS-funded sports.
The Winning Edge strategy introduced a more robust national funding and accountability model, with investment prioritised to sports demonstrating the greatest chance of success and sports with the capability to deliver.
AIS director Matt Favier said Australia would enter the Rio Olympics in a much strong position to reverse 12 years of decline on the gold medal table.
"Progressive improvement and analysis of results over the past three years give us great optimism that our sports and athletes are more aligned than ever and are on the right track for sustainable success," he said.
Independent data provider Gracenote Sports last month predicted Australia would finish in the top four nations at the Rio Games with 18 gold medals.
The Australian Olympic Committee, in its annual benchmarking released last December, forecast the nation would be seventh with 13 golds but has set a top-five aspirational goal for the Rio team.
