How much did each Team GB medal cost at London 2012?

An Olympic medal won by Team GB at the London 2012 Games cost an average of just over £4.5 million. Boxing was the most cost-effective sport in terms of funding per medal, with hockey the least

Figures obtained from UK Sport, the strategic body overseeing performance sport in the UK, detail the amount of money invested in each Olympic sport since the 2008 Beijing Olympics. We have compared this data with the amount of medals won by Team GB at London 2012.

The largest amounts of UK Sport money were spent on rowing (£27m), cycling (£26m) and athletics (£25m). The high overall costs of cycling - particularly in its the track form - lie in the need for the latest technology in bikes, helmets and clothing; such as the 'hot pants' used to keep Team GB cyclists' muscles warm before their race.

British cyclists won 12 medals in London, including 7 golds in the velodrome, with technological superiority no doubt playing an important part in their successes. This puts spending on cycling in perspective - the average spend per cycling medal was £2.2m, compared with £8.4m of spending for each Olympic swimming medal (overall spend £25m).

The rowers also provided value for money. Their nine medals, four of which were gold, meant the average expense per medal was £3m. British boxing proved the most cost effective of all, as Team GB's five medals put the average cost of a boxing medal at £1.9m.

It is worth noting that the figures are skewed towards sports with a larger number of individual chances to win a medal. In hockey, Team GB's women won a bronze medal, putting the cost of that medal at £15m. It was only ever possible for Team GB to win 2 medals in hockey, as opposed to swimming or cycling, in which there were many more medal contenders.

Total UK Sport funding for the London 2012 Olympics was £264,143,753, up from £235,103,000 spent on the Beijing Games. For London 2012, money from UK Sport was supplemented by a private sponsorship scheme known as 'Team 2012'.

Since 2008, a total of around £100m per year has been invested in 1,200 athletes competing across 47 different sports in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games.