Everything from coins to cushions, towels to train sets and vintage to modern goods, will hit the shops in time for Christmas 201O, London 2012 chief executive Paul Deighton said. The products are among the estimated 10,000 official items that will be on sale by 2012. Mr Deighton said: ''What I think is great is the quality of the products... as individual items quite independent to the fact that we have turbo-charged them with a London 2012 association.''

The merchandising surge will be in 2011 run-up to the Games, according to London 2012 organisers who are using it to help raise £2 billion towards staging the Games. Mascots Wenlock and Mandeville make leading appearances as toys and on keyrings, posters and stationery.

There is also a London 2012 Hornby train set - celebrating Olympic sports on one side of the train and Paralympic sports on the other. Next, the high street fashion chain, has released its first clothing collection including limited edition T-shirts, each individually numbered from 1 to 2,012.

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Mothers the world over know best. Just ask Jennifer Bolt, the mother of Usain, the world's fastest man. Speaking in London , she said her son "might change things around a bit and try something new" for the 2012 Olympic  Games.

The 400 metres might be an option, so too the long jump,she said, although switching to a field event was less likely than simply extending his long legs one lap of the track. But she knows that keeping Usain interested in the sport, giving him new challenges, is the key to his motivation. Mrs Bolt, a former runner herself at 100m, 200m and 400m, said she first realised Usain's brilliance when he won the world junior 200m title in 2002.

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Not that watching the Olympics is something volunteers can necessarily count on being able to do. A job as an Olympics volunteer is not merely a trackside ticket to the 100m final, or a licence to carry Andy Murray’s bags; more likely, it’ll be checking tickets at Greenwich Park, aiding spectators at Eton Dorney, greeting dignitaries at their hotels.

Olympic volunteers – or ‘Games Makers’, to use London 2012’s terminology – will fall into two broad categories: specialists offering things such as medical services and sporting assistance, and generalists – the vast army of volunteers assigned to direct spectators, man information points and help desks, stewarding and working in the uniform centre, and so on. The work is hard. The hours are long. If you’re not from London, you’ll need to arrange and fund your own accommodation. But if you ask any Games volunteer, it’s certainly worth it. The majority of volunteers will be based in and around the Games venues, but you could spend two weeks standing at the airport holding up a placard with a name on it.

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Falling at the halfway point of what promises to be a deeply difficult and unpopular Parliament, the Games could offer a distraction from the country's woes, and a unique chance to redefine the national image, domestically and in the eyes of the world It is an oft-repeated fact in sporting-political circles that no Government that has hosted an Olympics has failed to be re-elected afterwards. Some of those opportunities remain, but so deep is the fiscal hole that the new administration faces a more practical problem before it can look forward to Union Flags on the streets and a post-Games bump in the polls. How to deliver the Games that Britain promised in the face of huge cuts to the public purse?

It is a pressing quandary for the coalition and its sports minister Hugh Robertson, who came into office promising to deliver not just a world-class Games but a meaningful and abiding sporting legacy. The first part of the bargain may be easier to deliver than the second.

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As host nation, Britain automatically qualifies for every sport regardless of standards, except for basketball, where the team must qualify through the European Championship. The Olympic ethos that participation is more important than victory resonates with the British officials only if it means not coming last. The decision could also impact on potential Olympic Games ticket sales of some of the minor sports as the public is less likely to support sports that do not have a British presence.

BOA chief executive Andy Hunt said: “We are not just taking athletes for the ride, we need credible performances, the public would not be pleased to see someone in a Team GB uniform finish last in the first round of competition.”The BOA says it will probably field a team of up to 530 athletes, with as many officials and support staff again. If the BOA was to fill every spot available, it could field as many as 613 athletes. At the Beijing Games, the BOA sent a team of 311 athletes and 236 coaches and support staff.

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London looks likely to miss its 20% renewable energy target that was set prior to the Olympic Games. In a meeting between the London Assembly’s Environment Committee and the head of sustainability at the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, David Stubbs explained that there are not enough renewable energy projects in the city. A planned wind turbine scheme has already been blocked and this, combined with a general lack of sustainable energy facilities, means that London may not meet its target during the staging of the Olympic Games and Paralympics.

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The Olympics. Despite the last games being held in my country of residence, they don't mean all that much to me. I'll watch the opening ceremonies on occasion and tune in for an event or two, but it has more to do with hot athletes than exhilarating competitions. (Yeah, I like hot divers.)

My sports-phobia aside, I like what the Olympics stand for, in that they foster national pride for countries all over the world. Oh, and healthy competition. You know, when there are no underage Chinese gymnasts in the mix.

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It’s no lie to say us British don’t always do well during sporting events (World Cup anyone?) but the Olympics have been a different story. We totally kicked butt in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, winning 19 gold medals, 13 silver and 15 bronze. With the Games coming to London town in 2012, we’d like more of the same please. Even more exciting than winning a shed load of medals (for us, anyway) is the news that Stella McCartney will be designing the GB Olympic uniforms!

“As a British fashion designer, it is an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be creative director of Team GB as the hosting nation of the London 2012 Olympic Games,” said Stella. The littlest lady Macca is collaborating with Adidas to create the GB uniforms for the Summer Olympics, meaning we are at least going to be stylish, no matter how much bling we do or don’t win.

Daley was Britain's youngest competitor at the Beijing Olympics but the 16-year old is the most experienced name in the 40-strong team bound for Singapore, announced by the British Olympic Association. "The Youth Olympic Games are another important step for me on the road to London 2012, where I will do my very best to win gold for Team GB," he said.

"Building upon my participation at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, I am looking forward to gaining further experience of a multi-sport environment and the unique atmosphere of living alongside athletes from different sports and countries in an Olympic Village.

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It may be the biggest gathering of world leaders ever held in Britain, but don't expect to see the global economy, climate change or peace in the Middle East on the agenda. Olympic chiefs are preparing for up to 120 heads of state to attend the 2012 London games, where attractions include beach volleyball on Horse Guards Parade and archery just an arrow's arc from Bond Street's boutiques.

Some 48 presidents, sheikhs, kings and queens went to Athens in 2004, and 82 went to Beijing in 2008. The official explanation for the expected surge in interest in the London Olympics is the capital's "international prominence and close proximity to Europe".

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