So, did we get the bang for our buck?
Our most successful Olympic games has been completed - a record 18 medals obtained and suitably above the conservatively projected total of 14.
We have come a long way since the dark days of Sydney 2000 where only the mighty single sculler Rob Waddell, mentored by Whanganui's own taskmaster guru Dick Tonks, got across the line first, along with three bronze medallists for a poor return from the 151 athletes selected.
It was obvious something had to change and it's money that talks - the 2016 Black team which departed from these shores, and the shores of Europe, totalled 200 competitors who collectively had around $160 million spent on them over the past four years. Not peanuts.
"Elite sport is seen to lead to both international prestige for the nation, inspiring the nation and importantly, to an increase in participation among the masses," was the statement made by New Zealand High Performance Sport (HPSNZ) to justify the hefty price tag.
Again, this little country that could punched well above its weight.
The 18 medals left us 19th overall on a table of 207 nations and territories, which included the unique 'Refugee Team' - a necessary squad for inclusion in 2016 while also a sad commentary on the current state of world affairs.
Taking into account our population, this placed Aotearoa an impressive fourth on the medals per capita table - where statistically we were unlikely to ever get higher when calculating against the likes of those delightful and humble Fijians - who are still celebrating their Sevens gold.
However, if you want to be cynical about the stats, New Zealand dropped back five spots in the Top 20 from London 2012, because four gold medals did not match the six achieved there.
To be fair, there was some bad luck in that regard - two-time defending champion shot putter Valerie Adams could not have predicted American Michelle Carter would make the throw of her life in her final attempt to snatch the gold medal.
Normal transmission resumed in Lausanne this week when Adams defeated Carter by 45cm in a Diamond meet, but that's shutting the gate after the horse has bolted.
There was over achievement as well.
When a Takapuna Grammar schoolgirl named Eliza McCartney came to Cooks Gardens in December 2014 for the national secondary schools championships, she had to wait for all the other competitors to be eliminated trying to clear the pole vault bar at 3.85m before she could even start trying - being a class above at 4.15m.
Our youngest ever medallist - whom Whanganui guru Alec McNab points out could still attend at least three more Olympics if not four - McCartney meets the HPSNZ criteria to a tee.
Like kayaker Lisa Carrington, who has joined double gold medallists Adams and rower Mahe Drysdale as once-in-a-generation athletes, McCartney is the fresh-faced youngster who will "inspire the nation" and "increase the participation among the masses".
That facet alone justifies the $14.462m spent on the Olympic athletics campaign, where the Adams juggernaut and the historic bronze by shot putter Tom Walsh - New Zealand's first male podium finish in field events - makes cost-per-medal a bargain at $3.615m.
Unfortunately, it will be nervous times around Cambridge come December's funding review after the below average performance of the cyclists in the Rio Velodrome.
Receiving over 15 per cent of the total Rio spend at $26.471m, the solitary silver medal in the men's team sprint was a poor conversion rate from the 11 medals achieved at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, and more importantly the four from the 2015 world championships in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.
Other nations - especially Great Britain - stepped up their game.
Three Kiwi efforts of fourth - the meritorious finish that no one remembers - left the cyclists with an expensive cost-per-medal return of that same $26m figure.
"I think we're funded quite well, but with funding comes accountability," Whanganui's own Dayle Cheatley said back in 2014, with words that ring ominous now.
It is somewhat similar in the rowing where the largest tag of $32.069m was cashed in to receive two golds and a silver for a $10.69m cost-per-medal total.
Like our All Blacks, the expectations are somewhat higher here - the five medal target was not achieved, neither was the goal of qualifying in 14 boat classes (11 total).
After 24 unbeaten regattas, Eric Murray and Hamish Bond lived up to their share of the bargain, while Drysdale's victory in the closest rowing race in history will live in TV highlights packages for years to come.
Whanganui's Rebecca Scown justified her investment with new partner Genevieve Behrent by converting London bronze into Rio silver - the best which could be hoped given Britain's Helen Glover and Heather Standing were nigh on invincible.
Again, three fourth placings hurt the bottom line here.
Fortunately, Kiwis still float well and the efforts of the sailors - four medals for a great return on $18.363m - will stack up as the story of our Rio Games.
Yachting NZ broke a lot of hearts before Rio when they rejected spots in three boat classes because they did not regard those sailors - all ranked inside the Top 16 of the world - to be capable of causing an upset.
A harsh call but given the New Zealand flag was on the board for the finals of all seven classes they contested it's one that can be justified.
Ultimately, New Zealand got its money's worth for a fortnight in the South American sun, especially if you compare the expenditure to our grumbling cousins across the Tasman.
Australia sent over twice our number to Rio with 422 athletes and spent NZ$436m to do so, returning with 29 medals.
Their goal of a finish in the Top 5 for the overall medal count fell well short at ninth, with a return of NZ$15m per medal.
Given New Zealand's overall dip in the piggy bank was around $8.8m per medal returned, I think we got the better deal.