Not at all; I'm just thinking of Bradley Wiggins' autobiography - Brad wins gold, UK press fawns all over him for approx one month, then that's it, Olympic fever's over and he can't get arrested. Drink-fuelled downward spiral ensures.

Torvill & Dean - a different case. Their Olympic gold routine was at Sarajevo, so prime time BBC stuff at a time when that was a big deal. Half the country probably watched it. I've no idea how many people watched Amy Williams, but it was in the middle of the night.

Eddie the Eagle - clearly comedy gold, which gave a few more months staying power. However, I can't imagine he's swimming in cash as a result of his efforts.

I'm not downplaying Amy Williams efforts at all. She's clearly the best woman skeleton bob contestant at the 2010 Olympics. Hats off.

isn't a lot of money to spend on a exercise like this sadly. It's not just being spent on one person but on a team which includes maybe 20 -30 people all told so the wage bill for presumably 4 years will be significant and then there's expenses etc. Targeting niche sports makes loads of sense if you want to get the most bang for your bucks. To get a gold in say ice hockey would cost way more and would be much more of a gamble. The Olympic cycle team proved that spending money carefully on trainers and management for athletes (as well on the athletes and kit) can have a huge benefit 3-5 golds and other awards.
If you are questioning the spending of money on none essential services well that's another eternal debate.

Or was the cost of it all not really your point?