The plight of the "abandoned" embryos is a clear violation of the 1948 Declaration of Geneva: "I will have the utmost respect for human life from the time of conception ..."I was pleased that you mentioned that very few implantations of frozen embryos are successful. Their genes have already determined the baby's hair colour, eye colour, height and so on, and its sex. If this isn't the start of human life, what is? It is not only Roman Catholics who believe in the sanctity of life. At this point, a unique individual has inherited characteristics from both parents. I would suggest that an embryo is not "a couple's potential for children" but a child with potential. Every one of us began life as a single cell newly created when sperm fertilised egg at conception. Sir: I read with interest your leading article, "Frozen embryos: the race for a new ethical code" (24 July).

But the more powerful and radical concept of life coming in the form of fully fledged bacteria is resisted for reasons that are more to do with sociology than science. Professor Greenberg and other scientists in the field who are clamouring for priority over the weaker of the two options that we discussed in Lifecloud are lagging nearly two decades behind.Professor Sir FRED HOYLEProfessor N C WICKRAMASINGHECardiff. It's a shame, but it happens.You can't judge the state of British sport on the basis of one Olympics. Our worst performance this century took place in St Louis in the US in 1904. Some of our best performers this year were carrying injuries; Gunnell, Holmes, Jackson, Obree. With our medal tally just staggering into double figures, we have admittedly performed worse than in previous years But we shouldn't overreact. Today's gymnasts leap higher and spin faster than yesterday's heroes ever did Think of the drama and brute strength of the weight-lifting.

The Russian Andrei Chermerkin won the gold medal by lifting an astonishing, record-breaking 260kg Carl Lewis leapt 8.5m to win his ninth Olympic gold medal. And Charles Austin defied gravity, soaring over 2.39m in the high jump.If we are disappointed with the Games, it can only be because we set too much store by the performance of a few athletes swathed in the Union Jack. We would presumably have condemned Euro 96 as a boring waste of time and money had England been knocked out in the first round.But we shouldn't get so depressed about British sport. Meanwhile, Tony Blair has called for an urgent review to improve our future Olympic performance Yet both complaints are nonsense. The Games are as great as ever, and British sporting prowess is as respectable as ever. If we want to be brilliant, rather than just respectable, we should shove our hands in our pockets for the extra cash to match other countries' sports investment.