Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates has admitted Australia's medal tally at Rio was lower than anticipated and he wants to see funding for Olympic athletes revamped.

Key points: Australia's medal tally stands at 27

Australia's medal tally stands at 27 Coates expected tally to be 35-40

Coates expected tally to be 35-40 Coates says funding needs revising

"I'm very proud of the team, I'll say that, but the results are not what we expected," he told 7.30 in Rio.

"Some very well-funded sports haven't delivered the same medals that we needed."

With two days of competition left, Australia's medal tally stands at 27 — seven gold, ten silver and ten bronze.

He said the so-called "winning edge" strategy adopted after London, which targets sports Australia's already good at, was not working at a time when money was limited.

"You have to look at who we're competing against and how they're being funded. Basically we're at about $800 million over four years for elite sport. The Brits, Germans and French are up to $1.3, $1.4 [billion], and I suspect that Japan is up there now," he said.

"I'm not getting out there saying we need to go to those levels, that can't be justified in the economic situation that Australia faces at the moment, so I'm not entering that debate. All I'm saying is that behind these results if we haven't achieved what was expected, and we haven't, someone has to look at the system."

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Coates hoped for 35-40 medals

Mr Coates told 7.30 two weeks ago at the start of the Olympics he hoped the medal tally would be "somewhere in the 35-40 range, maybe a bit more".

"We didn't do well in London. We got 35 medals, just seven gold, but it was essentially in swimming," he said then.

"In Beijing we got 46 medals, 20 of those were in swimming. In London we got 35 medals, 10 in swimming. We lost 10 in swimming; we finished 11 down on Beijing. Our swimmers are, I think at the moment, they have eight current number ones in the world. We are looking for a very strong performance by swimming. As is traditionally the case, that will largely determine the outcome for Australia."

Australian won 10 medals in swimming at Rio.

'Difficult environment in which to work'

Mr Coates, who is also vice-president of the International Olympic Committee, said holding the Games in Rio had "been difficult in terms of the environment in which the organising committee's had to work".

Aside from problems with water in some of the pools, he said "they've got there in terms of the presentation of the venues".

Asked about security, he said it was a pity athletes who had finished competing were not free.

"Again it's a difficult environment in which to work and the pity is that when its over for the athletes, that's got to be a preoccupation with their management. They can't get out and enjoy the spirit of the city."

The small crowds at events had also been a disappointment.

"It has been a great concern. It's a great concern principally for the athletes who are doing world record performances in front of these smaller crowds," he said.

"Tickets were distributed to school children and needy folk earlier in the year. The problem is that this is school holidays and the problem is how do you get the people from disadvantaged areas to the venues?

"The problem also is there is just really a very small understanding of most of the sports by most of the Brazilians. They know their football, they know their volleyball, they learn when Brazil's got a chance in something, but their general appreciation's low and that's reflected sadly for the athletes."