Sir, Rather than railing against independent schools, Matthew Syed (“Higher, faster, yes. More meritocratic? No”, Opinion, Aug 16) should be grateful that Eton College took the decision to build what is regarded as a world-class rowing lake. And rather than continuing to paint the sport as elitist and “toff”, he should do some research.

Membership of my rowing club costs significantly less than that of a typical gym. We have both independently and state-educated members (I being one of the latter) and while some do work in the City, most have “normal” jobs — they are plumbers, teachers and office workers.

He should also consider that the amount paid for the BBC’s highlights package for the Barclays Premier League, funded by the TV licence, would fund the elite organisations for about three or four of the “minor” sports at which we excel.

Given our obesity epidemic in this country, perhaps we should be inspiring our youth to take part in, rather than just watch, sport. Most sports clubs below this elite level welcome anyone with potential — after all, sport is about winning.

Karl Henderson
London SW15

Sir, Your various columnists support the provision of public funds to “elite” sportsmen and women. Why? Elite (meaning professional) sportsmen and women are in business and should, like any other business, bear their own costs. The public purse, for example, doesn’t provide motor racing facilities, nor should it. Let the business of sport pay its own way, and spend the cash on sports facilities for local people. That, after all, is where the money comes from in the first place.

Granville Davies
Horsmonden, Kent

Sir, Surely the problem with the British Olympic team medal haul is not how many were won by independent school attenders, but how few were won by those from the state system.

The vast majority of independent schools encourage competition and sport participation; indeed, games generally form a central part of the curriculum. My experience with our local state school is that sport is an extracurricular activity only. Once all our children are given equal encouragement to engage in sport, the proportion of medal winners from the state system should increase.

Assuming that the future number of gold medal winners from independent schools remains at the current level and that there is an equal proportion of talent within the state system, Mr Syed’s statistics suggest that the new team members from the state system should increase the gold medal haul at a typical Games from 17 to 141. As there are around 300 events this would be a fairly satisfactory haul.

Charlie Pearson
Wirral

Sir, Your headline concerning London Olympic funding (Aug 19) raises the essential issue of training facilities for intending competitors. London has two 50-metre swimming pools. Paris has 27. These figures are replicated throughout other nations with swimming intentions.

We can only hope that the Amateur Swimming Association President, Mel Goldberg, is discussing this issue urgently with Lords Coe and Moynihan in Beijing.

Construction of one such pool costs £10 million and running costs average at £1.5 million per annum. Are there any patriotic entrepreneurs out there who want their names over the front entrance of a new pool in their area?

David Skidmore
London SE3

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