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.

"That moment, I knew he could be the Olympic champion." So what about more world records? Was he capable of running even faster than the 9.58sec for the 100m and 19.19 in the 200m he posted at last year's world championships?

"Yes he can do more, but not a world record this year; 2012 will be the year," she said.

Jennifer Bolt was one of several mothers of famous athletes for the launch of Proctor and Gamble's 10-year sponsorship of the International Olympic Committee.

The deal has taken the total number of IOC sponsors to 11 contributing US$1 billion for the four-year London Olympiad.

Paula Radcliffe's mum, Pat, wistfully recounted how her daughter won her first race in Cheshire, probably over a mile, when she was about nine years old. But the signals of her renowned determination were apparent much earlier.

"When Paula was a baby and she started to walk, she ran; she never crawled, she just got up and ran. She missed the crawling stage. It wasn't until she was 18 months old that a young friend taught her how to crawl," Mrs Radcliffe said.

And Paula, now seven months pregnant with her second child, said it was easier being the daughter rather than the mother. The difficulty of sitting in the stands watching, rather than competing, was tough.

"When I am competing I am in control, I know how I feel, but for mum and dad, they sit in the stands and they don't know how I feel, they can only guess and I understand that now," she said.

Paula said the experience of having a baby had also tempered her preparations for the London Olympics. She said she tried to return to competition too early after giving birth to Isla, now 3½, and had suffered injuries. That will not happen again.

"I do think I pushed through too quickly [to get back racing]," she said, admitting she had failed to recognise that her body had not recovered sufficiently.

So this time she is making no plans beyond a loose thought that she might run a distance track event at next year's World Championships in Daegu, South Korea. She will have to run one marathon before the London 2012 Olympic Games to set a qualifying time and assess her preparations.

"I want to make sure I am on the start line in London 2012 healthy and fit. I am going to see how it goes, two marathons beforehand would be ideal, but if I only run one I am not going to stress about it," she said.

Others present were Rosemary Jones (mother of Australian swimmer Leisel), Cao Lihua (Chinese beach volleyball player Xue Chen), Aster Menagesha (Ethiopian long-distance runner Meseret Defar), Debbie Phelps (US swimmer Michael), and Marlene Shirley (mum of US paralympic sprinter Marlon). So what about Michael Phelps' London plans? What are his goals that he famously writes down and hides in an envelope?

Debbie Phelps said she could not possibly reveal what they might be. "Michael's goals are really between him and his coach. I have no idea. All I know is that he is going to swim in London in freestyle the relays, maybe the individual medley, maybe the backstroke, maybe even the breaststroke," she laughed. Clearly, mums are good at keeping mum too.