Rad istražuje je li Hrvatski olimpijski odbor u razdoblju od 2001. do 2016. godine imao prioritetni pristup kod raspodjele sportskog proračuna na sportove, te je li on bio efikasan koristeći prilagođeni sistemski model. Istraživanjem su obuhvaćeni sportaši iz 33 ljetna olimpijska sporta (24 individualna i 9 ekipnih sportova) čije su sportske aktivnosti i nastupi u promatranom razdoblju financirani iz sredstava Hrvatskog olimpijskog odbora. Rezultati istraživanja pokazuju da je Hrvatski olimpijski odbor imao prioritetni pristup raspodjele sportskog proračuna i da su resursi usmjeravani u osam najuspješnijih sportova, s rijetkim izuzecima. Najveća efikasnost utvrđena je kod individualnih sportova koji imaju više disciplina i u kojima je moguće osvojiti veći broj medalja, dok je slaba efikasnost utvrđena kod ekipnih sportova. The aim of this paper was to research into whether the Croatian Olympic Committee applied the priority funding approach from 2001 to 2016 in budget allocation to different sports (i.e. national sport associations/federations). Additionally, the aim was to identify the applied approach efficiency by using the adjusted system resource model. The study encompassed athletes from 33 sports (24 individual and 9 team sports) of the Summer Olympic Games programme whose sporting activities and participation at competitions were funded by the Croatian Olympic Committee. The results showed that the Croatian Olympic Committee did apply the priority funding approach and that the resources were mostly directed – with few exceptions – towards the eight most successful sports. The highest efficiency was determined for individual sports that have multiple disciplines in which consequently more medals could be won. Lower efficiency levels were found for team sports.