London 2012 Olympics diary: athletes help Mark Ronson find his rhythm

Duet: Mark Ronson with Russian 400m runner Kseniya Vdovina

DJ and producer Mark Ronson,  famed for producing Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen, has collaborated with Katy B for Coca Cola's Olympic campaign.

Ronson recorded sounds athletes make, including the click clack of the ball hit by British table tennis player Darius Knight.

"But the sounds Darius creates, his grunts squeals and stuff are unusual and great," said Ronson, who has just one athlete left to record, the US hurdler David Oliver.

Ronson said he tempted Russian 400m runner Kseniya Vdovina onto a treadmill so he could accurately record her heartbeat at 120 beats per minute, the speed of the soundtrack.

Ronson said interesting sounds emanated from Mexican taekwondo athlete Maria Espinoza "when she kicks the crap out of people".

Coke erected a huge stage in the carpark of Forman's Fish Island, with the Olympic stadium as a backdrop, for the filming of a documentary about the ad. But no dieters here. Coke bottles and cans were everywhere, with the Diet Coke hidden out of sight.

Secret swim

Next Friday the British swim team members will have a swim in the Olympic Aquaticc Centre. But don't tell anybody. London olympic officials have told the swimmers the event is "top secret".

Televised? To who?

I'm just wondering what the Transport for London managing director Leon Daniels was doing during the Olympic road cycling test event.

Daniels has told the London Assembly that the event "was also a large,televised international event… it provided a number of benfits, not least of which was highlighting London as a cycling city to the world".

As Telegraph Sport readers know, the event wasn't televised anywhere except a few highlights a week later on the BBC.

Sky TV was specifically refused permission to film the race. Daniels also claimed "there was some very localised congestion".. but said it was "managed and minimised".

Hmm, some Surrey drivers stuck in five mile queues for five hours might beg to differ.

Drug cheats airbrushed from Games

LaShawn Merritt, the American runner infamous for use a 'male enhancement product' and testing positive to drugs will discover next Thursday if his appeal against the IOC's mandatory four year ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport is successful.

If so, Britain's own drug users like David Millar and Dwain Chambers could stage their own legal battle to have the British Olympic Association's life ban similarly disregarded.

Still, that won't help Linford Christie's persona non grata status around Olympic circles. Locog chairman Sebastian Coe has a strict drug-free association for anyone working on the Games.

TV rules OK

What are the chances distance running great Haile Gebrselassie will force a re-think on the start time of the London 2012 Olympic marathon? Gebrselassie wants it two hours earlier at 9am, but broadcasters say that's way too early for the prime US audience.

What TV wants, TV gets: remember the bizarre morning finals for the swimming at the Beijing Olympics?

England's green and pleasant land

Fields In Trust, the authority that oversees the 471 King George's Fields across the country, is looking to expand the numbers of protected national playing fields, trails, play areas and gardens to a total of 2012 to honour the Queen Elizabeth II's diamond jubilee and the London Olympics.

Olympic legal sponsor Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is helping to formalise the deals.

Day of destiny for 2017 bid

The world athletics body IAAF will be in London next week, running their eye over the city's bid to host the 2017 world track and field championships and signing off the red-coloured athletics track that has been laid at the Olympic stadium.

No surprise the Mayor of London Boris Johnson wanted an immediate response from Tottenham Hotspur to accept a £17 million funding package and drop their legal action against the Olympic Park Legacy Company.

The continual court threats are weighing heavily against the athletics bid.