WHAT an Olympics that was; competition at it’s very best. I, for one, didn’t think Great Britain would be so successful. Although the BBC coverage was a bit saturated.

I think quite a few gongs will be awarded in the New Year: Nicola, Heather, Helen, Laura and a few others should be made dames, while the likes of Mo, Andy, Jason, Matt should get knighthoods - and fully deserved they will be.

They have all shown what hard work and dedication will do.

England footballers please note.

I would like the BBC to show some of the so-called minority sports on a Saturday afternoon, such as hockey, badminton and basketball. They can be quite exciting to watch and those of us without Sky miss out.

Team GB has shown that National Lottery funding investment in the right areas can bring huge rewards.

The BBC are going to have quite a job to pick one sports personality out of all those who won gold.

John Brant, Darlington

IT was often said about football that you can’t buy a league title.

These days that’s easier to refute, the wealthy clubs usually do, apart from last season, prevail.

This letter is not about football, but about money. Money does not guarantee success , but what it can do is put in place the infrastructure that can breed success.

Over the past couple of weeks we have seen what National Lottery funding can do. For me it is money well spent.

The feelgood factor for us as a nation has been fantastic, and before anybody gets upset about hard times, that is for the Government to sort out.

The lottery funding system has worked brilliantly over the past eight years but now let’s get it into more sports.

Rio 2016 has been a great event, nothing else to say except well done Team GB and Northern Ireland. Oh, and the National lottery.

Alan Barrass, Shildon