Firstly many, many congratulations  to the ladies and mens curling teams on their medals at the Winter Olympics. A fitting reward for all the many years of hard-work that they put in.

Then of course there are all those athletes in other sports who put in just as much for no reward other than the satisfaction of being an "Olympian",

But does top sport matter? Vast sums of money are poured into elite sporting programmes yet at the grass-roots level many sports, particularly team sports are withering on the vine.

What is the function and purpose of sport? Should public money (or lottery money) be spent on developing elite sport programmes or should it be spent on boosting the lower levels?

Personally I love sport, I used to be very active in rugby and then running, albeit very much at "Club level". I enjoy watching it but so few today seem to be taking it up. Today there are lots watching but few playing - why?