It doesn't make sense.
UK Sport in their infinite wisdom have decided achievers at the last Olympics get most of the dough for a London 2012 challenge, while the rest - including athletics - can put Slim Pickings on the back of their hand-me-down tracksuits.
Sure, cycling,boxing,rowing and sailing need the levels of funding that saw them get the heady highs of returning a plane full of medals (upgraded) in the first place.
But, if you don't help the ailing sports does that mean you're, or rather UK Sport, putting all your golden eggs in one basket?
The argument is you reward and protect those that already delivered, but surely the vicious cycle of athletics and the rest doing it against the odds spins even harder.
I would wager boxer James DeGale's new pro contract that Mr Average rates track-and-field as the blue riband sport of the Olympics.
For some, the whole bunfight doesn't start until they're in the big stadium.
But the sport will get a five per cent reduction on its Beijing budget with the next edition being the capital's pride and joy.
Clearly,what appears to be needed in any sport is an infrastructure with a head honcho that knows what he's doing.
Cycling's Dave Brailsford and rowing's Jurgen Grobler have revolutionised the mentality around their events, and athletics now has a new head in Charles van Commenee.
The expression going Dutch has never been so apt for the coach from Amsterdam.
He will somehow need to make four medals from Beijing into eight with less money than the hapless team got in August.
I would double the DeGale contract wager if van Commenee didn't have a few choice words when he discovered the likes of synchronised swimming were among the unlikely winners in the cash handouts.
