London 2012 Olympics: BOA drug cheat bylaw may hit bureaucratic stalemate

Robust: Lord Moynihan is holding firm on his view on drug cheats (Photo: AP)

It has occasionally been said of Lord Moynihan, the combative and committed chairman of the British Olympic Association, that he could start an argument in an empty room.

He has had no need to search for an opponent in the deepening row with the World Anti-Doping Agency, but if he is to put the uncertainty over the legality of the BOA’s life-ban for convicted dopers to bed, he may have to win the argument in an empty chamber.

The row between the two agencies is on one level very simple.

Does the BOA have the right to bar convicted drugs cheats from its Olympic team for life, on the basis that it is free to choose who is eligible to wear the Team GB vest? Or is it, as WADA maintain, bound to respect the universal code, under which all doping sanctions have to be uniform, rendering the life-ban illegal?

A simple question perhaps, but the dispute risks being swallowed in rhetoric and the bureaucratic mire of global anti-doping and dispute resolution.

The International Olympic Committee found to its cost last month that it has to bow to WADA on doping, when American sprinter LaShawn Merritt’s ban from London 2012 under IOC Rule 45 was overturned at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

That case has established a precedent that WADA believes renders the BOA bylaw defunct. CAS ruled that the IOC’s rule was a sanction not an eligibility test, and therefore invalid, and WADA believes the same logic applies to the BOA.

To prove it WADA asked Michael Beloff QC to look at the case and he agreed that the BOA was “non-compliant” with the code. WADA sent that opinion to the BOA which construed it as a challenge and called for a ruling from CAS.

In theory this was probably the least bad solution, a chance to test the bylaw without the emotional baggage and personal stress that a challenge from an athlete would bring.

But for reasons that are not yet clear but probably blend politics, legal nicety and personal animus, WADA appear unwilling. Its director general David Howman told Telegraph Sport on Wednesday evening that he had no intention of being a party to a CAS arbitration.

But without two parties there can be no arbitration, which takes us back to Moynihan and the empty chamber. With no arbitration the bylaw stands, for now, a move interpreted as an expert calling of WADA’s bluff by the former sports minister.

Perhaps. Few in the doping and Olympic community think WADA can be described as bluffing when their hand includes a considered legal opinion from one of the most experienced lawyers in sport, and an apparently clear precedent in the Merritt case. But for now, its deadlock.

One question worth addressing is why, if WADA does not want to pursue arbitration, why has it taken this course?

The reason is that this weekend WADA’s board is required to compile a list of which of its signatory agencies are compliant with its code. It goes through this process every two years, a deadline that persuaded it to seek clarification from the BOA, which as a national Olympic committee is signed up to the code.

With the status of the bylaw uncertain and in WADA’s opinion illegal, the BOA risks being declared non-compliant, an embarrassment at the very least for an NOC about to host an Olympics.

The consequences could in theory be much worse. WADA can take internal measures against non-compliant countries, barring them from committees and its board.

The IOC and international federations can take tougher action. London is lucky, for example, that it has already won the hosting rights to the Games because non-compliant countries are barred from bidding for them.

In theory London could even lose the right to stage them. According to the WADA code “other consequences may include the ineligibility to host events, cancellation of international events and symbolic consequences.”

None of these are likely to be invoked, but to find a way through this mess someone will have to back down. That will be hard given the bad blood on both sides.

Moynihan’s highly critical speech calling for fundamental reform of WADA and describing it as “toothless” has caused offence and annoyance at the agency’s Canadian headquarters.

Howman responded by describing it as an inaccurate and emotional “tirade”.

Neither has WADA done itself any favours in its public statements, which last night contained one significant inaccuracy and a misinterpretation. WADA claimed that it had not had any contact with the BOA since October, ignoring the letter and legal opinion sent to Charlotte Street this week. It also denied challenging the BOA to go to CAS, something that Moynihan did not allege.

WADA has also apparently changed its mind on the issue, an irony given its over-riding interest in consistency. In 2009 WADA told the BOA the bylaw was compliant. This October, following the Merritt ruling, they ruled it was not, a view emphasised this week.

Finding a way out of the muddle will not be straightforward but without a challenge the bylaw will remain. Everyone I have asked inside the Olympic movement in the last 48 hours thinks it will fall at the first challenge.

But Moynihan’s commitment to it, backed by the support of 90 per cent of British athletes and, one can assume, majority public opinion, is sincere and deeply held. And, for the time being, it looks like being successful.

London 2012 Olympics diary: WW1 verterans to be honoured by BOA

Noel Godfrey was one of only three people to be awarded the Victoria Cross twice for bravery and devotion to duty

Olympic athletes who gave their lives during World War I will be honoured at the Armistice Remembrance Day Ceremony in Yprés, Belgium.

British Olympic Association Chairman Colin Moynihan will lead a delegation of British Olympic medallists and officials at the Menin Gate at 11:00 am on the 11th of November and will be joined by IOC president Jacques Rogge.

The Last Post Association says,there are three British Olympians in the Yprés Salient: Captain (Doctor) Noel  Godfrey  Chavasse VC and Bar,  who was a 400m runner at the 1908 London Olympics;  Lt G.R.L. ‘Twiggy’ Anderson a hurdles finalist at the Stockholm Olympics in 1912 and world record holder and Gunner George Albert (GA) Hawkins a 200m finalist at the 1908 London Olympic Games.

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How fortunate that the Team GB football teams had their fixtures announced months ahead of any other team.

With more than 1.5 million football tickets to shift, London Olympic Games organisers are now able to market – and sell – a wad of Games football tickets as ideal Christmas presents.

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A big pre-opening ceremony Olympic Games rock concert is being mooted to put the capital in a festive mood but the planning has put a couple of Olympic sponsors offside.

While Coca Cola has the celebrated DJ Mark Ronson involved to produce a worldwide advertisement including the sounds athletes make, it appears Locog wants one massive rock event, rather than separate sponsor activations.

But we are hearing there are  problems securing an adequate venue.

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With the Olympic torch relay route confirmed this week, the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport Jeremy Hunt has started his own nationwide tour to promote the tourism benefits of the Olympics.

Unlike the torch Hunt won't quite reach 95 per cent of the country but his 13 city visits  will launch 20.12 per cent discounts for domestic tourism on the back of the

Olympics.

This scheme is funded from nearly £3 million of the £9.3 billion  Olympic budget.

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More than 4,000 semi-mature trees, including Willow, Poplar and Alder have been planted at the Olympic Park.

The greening of the Park is now completed with more than 10 football fields’ worth of nectar-rich annual and perennial meadows ready to flower during the  Olympic Games.

Designers have built more than 3,300 seats into the park so people are never more than 50m walk from a seat.

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One of the Olympic sponsors, Coca Cola, is planning to create 80 million new Coke bottles within six weeks of the closing ceremony of the Games using about a fifth of the total waste from the  Games.

The company says all of the clear PET plastic will be recycled and will help Locog's target to send zero waste to landfill. A new recycling facility with Eco Plastics in North Lincolnshire will double the current recycled  plastic from 35,000 tonnes to more than 75,000 tonnes.

Insecure Australians scale down London 2012 Olympics medal target. What would Glenn McGrath say?

Reality check: Ian Thorpe doesn't look like contributing medals any time soon (Photo: REUTERS)

In a shockingly un-Australian display of modesty and reticence, Australian Olympic Committee Chairman John Coates has admitted that the country’s London 2012 medal chances are “worrying” – and that they are projecting fewer gongs than the Oz team managed in 2008.

The AOC is predicting 30 medals next summer, which would represent the lowest haul since Barcelona 1992. Worse yet, the Aussie boffins have calculated that they might finish eighth in the medal table – below the hated Poms.

What has the world come to?

Is this the nation that gave us Glenn McGrath’s metronomic pre-series forecast of “5-0, mate” prior to every Ashes series? Talking up your hopefuls’ chances prior to a sporting event ought to be an Australian’s birthright.

But it’s not just the Olympics guys, who, after all, could be forgiven for not wanting to bet the farm on a medal haul that will be missing Ian Thorpe’s traditional 17 golds. Elsewhere in Aussie sport, we are seeing outbreaks of humility and proportion.

Shane Warne, coming out of retirement for domestic Twenty20 cricket in Melbourne, offered a muted: “I wouldn’t go into playing these games without a sense of confidence in my ability that I can go out there to make a difference” where once he would have been grinning broadly and wondering about what to spend the Man of the Series cheque on.

The rugby union men are also chastened. After comprehensive defeat in the last four of the Rugby World Cup, Michael Lynagh shrugged: “Defeat in a semi-final to New Zealand represents a good performance in the tournament.”

But this is the most damming of all. Is Aussie popstar-turned-celebrity-hoofer Holly Valance shooting her mouth off about winning Strictly Come Dancing in the traditional manner?

Not at all: “I don’t know if I’ll do it but I’ll have a good go,” said Holly deferentially, while somewhere out in Narromine, New South Wales, Glenn McGrath wept into his tinny about the cowardly over caution of his countrymen.

London 2012 Olympics: torch relay will convert even the staunchest Olympic sceptic

The London 2012 Olympic torch (Photo: LOCOG)

In May and June next year a curious feeling will overcome the UK.

Suddenly the most cynical and uninterested of the British public,  who has largely ignored the London 2012 Olympic Games build-up, will become converted into an Olympic fan.

The source of such revelation? A small flame on the end of a golden torch being carried around the country by 8,000 local people – and a few celebrities.

The impact and magnitude of the Olympic torch relay in creating a unified and passionate base for the home Games cannot be underestimated.

In the lead-up to the Sydney Olympic Games the mood of the nation shifted 180 degrees from anxiety about Olympic costs and ticketing to unbridled cheering on the day the Olympic torch arrived and was carried to Uluru by an aboriginal sprinter Nova Peris.

At the Vancouver Winter Olympics, divisions over the local communities and squabbling about costs were silenced in the cacophony of support for local torch bearers as it weaved its way throughout Canada.

I suspect that across the UK, the hundreds of communities that are already preparing for the torch arrival will galvanise a similar tidal wave of Olympic cheering.

Just why this is so, remains a mystery. I suspect people will say it is part myth – the thought that a flame lit by the rays of the sun can remain constantly light and bright and touch parts of the country that previously was immune to any connection to the Games, and part curiosity – to see what the fuss is all about.

Organisers of the London 2012 torch relay have taken a risk though, in deviating from the true relay concept. They are having runners pass the flame through towns, and then whisking it into the back of a truck to take it to the next town.

Part of the torch's romance was its journey through remote locations with just a farmer and his dog cheering it on, rather than ensuring every landmark has a picture opportunity.

But the organisers have taken this relay-by-truck method to ensure it will reach the farthest flung reaches of the country. And curiously it will be those areas the greatest distance away from London that will embrace the torch the most.

London kept its side of athletics legacy bargain, now IAAF must award capital the World Championships

Not again: Lord Coe will be praying for no repeat of the jubilation when Qatar was awarded the 2022 World Cup (Photo: AFP)

I am trying to picture the headlines next week if Doha is chosen ahead of London to host the 2017 World Athletics Championships. It doesn’t make pretty reading.

If anything, the humiliation would be even greater than England’s last-place finish in the 2018 World Cup vote because London is so obviously a more suitable candidate than its rival, with its furnace-like temperatures and crowds so sparse that they have to bus in migrant workers for Diamond League meetings and then lock the

stadium doors to stop them leaving early.

One can only imagine the backlash. It would be seen as a snub of epic proportions, and it would certainly re-open the debate over whether a permanent running track in the Olympic Stadium can really be justified.

If the International Association of Athletics Federations couldn't care less about cementing Britain’s athletics legacy, then why should we spend tax-payers’ money keeping the Olympic Stadium in public ownership just to guarantee the future of the running track?

The clamour to tear up the track would be deafening, while the personal criticism of Lord Coe for his insistence on a permanent athletics legacy would also grow louder. And all this at a time when Britain was supposed to be getting ready for a gigantic celebration of Olympic sport, with athletics at its centre.

Such a scenario is why the IAAF council members must do the right thing next week and vote for London. It is surely payback time for the efforts of Coe, and indeed the Government, in sticking so firmly to London’s promise to retain an athletics legacy for the Olympic Stadium.

That promise was made to the International Olympic Committee in Singapore in 2005 and was a key factor in London’s success in securing the 2012 Games. It is widely believed that Lamine Diack, the IAAF president, switched his vote from Paris to London because of that undertaking.

Diack certainly did not forget London’s promise earlier this year when the Olympic Park Legacy Company were weighing whether to allow Tottenham to tear up the track and rebuild the stadium as a football-only venue.

In fact, his outrage at such a prospect could not have been plainer as he talked of “betrayal” and “a big lie” if the track was removed.

It is worth recalling the statement he released in support of a permanent running track. He wrote:

The crux of the stadium debate for the IAAF focuses on the commitment given by the London bid committee in Singapore in 2005 to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which has many members from the sport of athletics, to retain a sustainable athletics legacy after the London Games.

This promise was not a footnote of London’s bid: it was a core  policy of their presentation to convince the Olympic family of their exciting, viable legacy plans. It offered a vision of year-round health and fitness opportunities for the local community and a venue to stage national and major international athletics competitions ranging from meetings like the Samsung Diamond League to Area and World Championships.

So there it is. In reminding us of London’s promise, Diack also acknowledged the city’s vision of a vibrant athletics legacy with major international meetings, including the World Championships, being staged in the stadium.

That is the vision that Coe has held on to ever since London was awarded the Olympics, despite the pressures to water down the promise made in Singapore.

London has kept its side of the bargain. Now it is up to the IAAF to deliver.

London 2012 Olympics diary: Tanni Grey-Thompson backs BOA drug cheat bylaw

Life means life: Tanni Grey-Thompson believes Dwain Chambers should not be able to compete at the Olympics (Photo: Paul Grover)

Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson has revealed that she nearly included a recommendation to drug test coaches during her widespread doping review of UK Athletics.

Grey-Thompson's review back in 2009 brought about a toughening of sanctions against drug users, but she said a key measure she wishes she had now included was to have coaches and support staff around athletes also undergo drug tests.

She believes some coaches may be drug takers themselves and sending wrong messages to athletes.

"It wouldn't hurt for them to understand what we have to go through for a drug test either," she said.

The multi-medal winning Paralympian also backed the British Olympic Association's bylaw that prohibits the selection of anyone with a doping conviction.

Despite noises from cycling and track and field at the time of LaShawn Merritt's court victory, which gave the athlete the right to compete at the London Olympics, no one has yet challenged the BOA's tough position.

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British diver Tom Daley is to be immortalised in wax at the Madame Tussauds museum.

Daley tweeted that he would be setting new ground for the museum as he would be wearing nothing other than Speedos.

The work will capture Daley diving mid-air towards the water.

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Freshfields lawyers have been busy dealing with hundreds of small transgressions of the Olympic act which prohibits non-Olympic companies from promoting any association with the London 2012 Olympics.

But the tactic to stamp out small problems to send a deterrent message to the big end of town hasn't hit home. This week a main multinational communications rival to sponsor Samsung was publicising a new phone product " to shine at London Olympics 2012". Legal letters have started to fly.

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Olympic Park Legacy Company chiefs, chair Baroness Margaret Ford and chief executive Andrew Altman will face a grilling next week in the London Assembly over the continuing delays to tender the Olympic Stadium.

Committee chair Dee Doocey said five years after London won the bid "we seem to be back to square one… we want to know what went wrong and what the consequences will be for the taxpayer."

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Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe will delay revealing his 100m freestyle prowess and concentrate on the butterfly and individual medley events as he swims competitively for the first time in five years at the Fina World Cup meets in Singapore, Beijing and Tokyo this month.

But many don't realise that Thorpe, as a 14 year old, was seriously considering concentrating on the 200m butterfly event, such was his dominance of the stroke.

His current Swiss-based coach Gennadi Touretski believes he won't be disgraced in the event.

London 2012 Olympics: forcing female boxers to wear skirts is a flawed and sleazy idea

Would you like to tell Chantelle Cameron and Nicola Adams to wear a skirt? (Photo: PA)

What is it about a flouncey short skirt that male sports administrators find so appealing? Here we are in the 21st century, where women have forged their equal rights in most areas of life, including, to the dismay of some men, the boxing ring.

For the first time at London 2012 women’s boxing will be on the Olympic Games program. Initially there were some commentators objecting to women being involved in a brutal and bloodied sport. Their shoddy assumptions usually centred on the supposed frailty of women.

Now we have dinosaur officials, again men, in charge of the international boxing authority the AIBA, who have recommended that the women compete in the Olympics in skirts.

I wouldn't be surprised if tucked away in those ridiculous and anachronistic recommendations are also a maximum skirt length, similar to the skimpy skirt requirement for beach volleyball players.

Thankfully female boxers have brains to match their brawn.

Ireland's Katie Taylor said: "It's a disgrace that they're forcing some of the women to wear those mini-skirts. We should be able to wear shorts, just like the men. I won't be wearing a mini-skirt. I don't even wear mini-skirts on a night out, so I definitely won't be wearing mini-skirts in the ring."

The AIBA says outrageously, that having women wear skirts would distinguish them from men. Hmm, here are some clues, guys: hips and breasts.

Not only is the idea flawed that skirts can somehow make female boxing appear more feminine, it is somewhat sleazy to have ringside boxing officials – nearly always male – looking upwards, ostensibly to watch the action. That's what I call perving.

Ian Thorpe will need to swim faster than ever before to make London 2012 Olympics

Challenge: Ian Thorpe returns to Australian swimming to see plenty of rivals for Olympic places (Photo: REUTERS)

It’s one of the most eagerly anticipated comebacks of the year, certainly in swimming circles, and quite possibly in sport generally.

After five years out of the water Ian Thorpe makes his competitive swimming return at the Singapore leg of the Fina World Cup tour, with a plethora of interested spectators eager to see what sort of shape he is in and to assess whether he can be a contender in London next year.

Having missed the 2006 Commonwealth Games through illness, Thorpe hasn’t been seen in international waters since the Athens Olympics, a competition where he cemented his place as a great of the sport by defending his 400m freestyle crown and adding the 200m freestyle title that had eluded him at a home Games in 2000.

For good measure he also picked up bronze in the 100m freestyle in Athens and it is on the shorter events that his comeback has been focused.

Even during his middle distance heyday, Thorpe often expressed a desire to improve his sprinting and given the relatively short period between announcing a return in March 2011 and the Olympics in August 2012, it was always likely that the sprints would be the priority, with there being simply not enough time available to become competitive over 400m.

To that end Thorpe has aligned himself with legendary Russian coach Gennadi Touretski, the man who guided the great Alex Popov to consecutive Olympic sprint doubles in 1992 and 1996 and who was responsible for the distinctive straight armed freestyle that took Michael Klim to a 100m freestyle world record.

Based in Lugarno in Switzerland, largely out of sight, Thorpe and Touretski have quietly been going about their business to prepare for this week’s big splashdown.

Expectations are unsurprisingly high, but a dose of realism is needed.

Looking at the case of fellow Australian sprinter Libby Trickett, the former women's 100m freestyle world record holder who was somewhat off her best when she returned to the race pool in July this year, gives credence to the view that Thorpe will not be on the pace immediately in Singapore .

What will be more interesting is whether he can develop his speed sufficiently in time for the Australian Olympic trials early next year. Such development is likely to mean technical changes to his stroke, but even if these are bedded in, Thorpe still faces a monumental challenge to even make the Australian team.

There has been a presumption that all Thorpe has to do is turn up to book his place in London, but the facts don’t necessarily reflect that view and, in fairness to Thorpe, he himself has said that he is prepared for failure.

Remember that Australia boasts two of the fastest freestylers of all time in Eamon Sullivan, a former world record holder, and James Magnussen, the fastest man ever seen in a textile suit, and that the Australian 4 x 100 freestyle relay team won the World Championships in Shanghai.

Thorpe’s best ever time is 48.56 which is slower than the best times of all four of that quartet, albeit that some of those times benefited from bodysuits providing more assistance than that which Thorpe wore, and would only have been good enough for 18th in the 2011 world rankings, behind a fifth Australian, James Roberts.

Against that background just making it to London will probably mean Thorpe swimming faster than he ever has before.

• Follow the pullbuoy blog for the latest from the world of swimming – http://www.pullbuoy.co.uk/

London 2012 Olympics: pessimism grows around journey times during Games

Only way: Mark Cavendish has the right idea about the best way to get around London

A quick 20-minute dash from Soho to Stratford? Or how about zipping from Wembley to the Olympic Park in under 35 minutes? These were some of the fanciful transport times being suggested to the International Olympic Committee by London 2012 organisers in the early stages of their transport planning, using of course, the controversial Olympic Route Network.

But the latest figures released to the media at the World Press Briefing show that even the most pessimistic travel times were way too conservative, even though 100 miles of roads will be dedicated solely for official Olympic Games traffic.

VIP might end up standing for 'Very Impatient People' as the journey times using the Olympic Lanes have been increased by 50 to 100 per cent.

In most cases, athletes might be advised to jump on a bike as it will get them to their destination infinitely quicker.

For badminton players and officials, who were promised a 30-minute commute from the Olympic Village to the re-located venue at Wembley, the journey could be more than twice as long with the estimated journey time for that route set at 70-80 minutes.

London 2012 Olympic officials say the new estimated journey times are realistic, but admit they are on the conservative side. They say athletes, officials and the media need to be able to plan their journeys and the times are a worst case scenario at peak times, rather than the times the journeys may take.

Here are the latest estimated journey times from the Olympic Park:

Hyde Park for triathlon  (55 minutes)

Horse Guards Parade for beach volleyball  (45 minutes)

Earls Court for volleyball  (70 minutes)

Eton Dorney for rowing (100 minutes)

Greenwich Park for equestrian (35 minutes)

Hampton Court for road cycling time trial (110 minutes)

Lord's cricket ground for archery (55 minutes)

Wimbledon for the tennis (80 minutes)

The Mall for road cycling (60 minutes)

Lee Valley White Water Centre for canoeing (40 minutes)

Hadleigh Farm for mountain biking (80 minutes)

ExCeL for  table tennis, taekwondo, weightlifting, wrestling and boxing (30 minutes)

North Greenwich Arena for basketball finals and gymnastics (25 minutes).

Spectators, of course, will have to use public transport and the guidelines on transport times between venues is suitably vague.

According to the official Locog journey time finder, travelling between Olympic Park at Stratford to Wembley Stadium will take between one to two hours from station to station.

Officials advise adding on an extra 30 minutes for security checks and walking to the venue.

London 2012 Olympics diary: Locog hit back in Steve Ovett tickets row

Missing: Steve Ovett (Photo: AFP)

London Olympics organisers say they are mystified by claims by Steve Ovett that they turned down his request for a couple of tickets for the Olympic 1500m final in exchange for taking part in a photo-call at the official ticket launch in March.

Ovett, Lord Coe’s great rival on the track in the 1970s and ‘80s, was invited to fly to London from his home in Australia to join fellow Olympic gold medallists Carl Lewis, Nadia Comaneci and Rebecca Adlington for the promotional event.

But, as reported in last week’s Olympic Diary, he says he pulled out after his ticket request was rejected. However, the London organising committee (Locog) has painted a very different picture of the negotiations with Ovett’s management company over the terms of his appearance in London and says the former runner may not be aware of the scale of its demands.

Locog has correspondence to prove that it agreed to pay Ovett £10,000 for his single day of promotional work (Locog’s original, smaller cash offer was turned down by Ovett’s team), plus business-class travel and accommodation.

The reply from Ovett’s management company was that he would also require four tickets for his children for all nine days of the track and field competition in the Olympic Stadium, at which point Locog decided to pull the plug.

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Russian plans to turn London’s Marble Arch into a £10 million party venue, dubbed ‘Marble Archski’, during next summer’s Olympics are set to be turned down by Westminster City Council.

Council offers have recommended that planning permission be refused for the ‘Sochi World’ project, which was meant to showcase the 2014 Winter Olympics with a 700-capacity ice rink as well as an exhibition centre, bars and restaurants.

The plans ran into huge opposition from local residents angry at the disruption and overcrowding that would result, and there were also strong objections from transport chiefs, the Metropolitan Police and English Heritage.

The Russian organisers now have the headache of finding an alternative venue with many of the capital’s prime sites having already been booked by other countries.

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Dame Kelly Holmes believes former world champion Caster Semenya has made a smart move in hiring 800 metres great Maria Mutola as her new coach as the South African runner begins her countdown to 2012.

Holmes credits the time she spent training with Mutola in South Africa in 2003 as a key factor in her double triumph at the Athens Olympics the following year.

“She’s the most focused athlete I’ve ever known,” says Holmes. “I thought I was focused, but she is really scary. She’s just so blinkered. I don’t know what her coaching ability is, but for Caster to have that energy around her and to be working with someone who beat everyone that was thrown at her and achieved so much, it has to be the perfect move for her.”

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Londoners hoping to make a few extra quid next summer by renting out their homes to Olympic visitors face a confusing postcode lottery when it comes to council rules on short-term lets.

Research carried out by Holiday Lettings, the UK’s leading holiday lets website, has revealed a huge disparity in regulations, with some councils levying hefty charges for short-let planning permission while others imposing no charge at all.

The strictest rules appear to be in Westminster, where the council is charging £335 for planning permission with the threat of a £20,000 fine for non-compliance.

By contrast, host boroughs Tower Hamlets and Hackney say residents require no permission to rent their  homes.

A Holiday Lettings spokeswoman said: “This is a huge opportunity for Londoners to support the Olympic effort and we must question why some councils are objecting to this.”

London 2012 Olympics diary: gold medallist Steve Ovett in Olympic tickets snub

Odd: Steve Ovett was asked to promote tickets just as long as he didn't ask for any himself (Photo: Rex Features)

While Lord Coe can claim to be the world’s most high-profile ex-athlete, his old running rival Steve Ovett would appear to be the forgotten man.

Ovett, who beat Coe to the 800 metres gold medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, was invited earlier this year to take part in the 2012 Olympic ticket launch in London, joining fellow Olympic champions Carl Lewis, Nadia Comaneci and Rebecca Adlington.

Since he now lives in Australia, he was offered free travel and accommodation but was told he would not be paid a fee.

He replied that  he was happy to help out but wondered whether he might be sorted out with a couple of tickets to the 1500 metres final in the Olympic Stadium.

He was shocked to receive a standard letter from the London organising committee acknowledging his ticket application and advising him to apply through the public ballot. Needless to say, he decided to give the ticket launch a miss.

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World champion Dai Greene may still be short of Kriss Akabusi’s British 400 metres hurdles record but he can at least boast another prestigious mark.

While working at a drive-thru McDonalds restaurant in Llanelli in 2003 he and his co-workers broke a company record for the number of cars served with their orders within an hour.

“We served something like 140 cars and were told it was a record,” says Greene proudly. “You could say I’ve gone from quarter-pounder to quarter-miler.”

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Worshippers of Zoroastrianism will be reassured that their spiritual needs will be well catered for at London 2012, with organisers promising the most diverse network of multi-faith chaplains ever seen at a Games.

Nearly 200 chaplains are currently being recruited to offer support and counselling in the athletes’ village and venues as well as the main workplace areas for volunteers and employees.

Under the contract with the International Olympic Committee, host cities are required to provide chaplains for the five main religions – Christianity, Islam, Hindusim, Buddhism, Judaism – but London will be going further by offering chaplains in Sikhism, Jainism, Baha’i and Zoroastrianism, which is estimated to have just 200,000 followers  worldwide.

“London is so diverse that for the last four years we have been working with the nine faiths that are usually recognised in the inter-faith network,” says Rev Canon Duncan Green, the London 2012 head of multi-faith services.

While providing specialist support in their own religions, the army of chaplains will be expected to work across different faiths.

Green said: “What we are actually saying is that whatever faith you are, we will cater for you, especially in our workforce because our workforce can be drawn from the UK, which is very ethnically diverse, or from all over the world.”

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Jemma Simpson, who topped the UK 800 metres rankings in 2010 but was hampered by injury problems this summer, has appealed against the decision of UK Athletics to drop her from the Lottery funding programme.

And quite right, too. Despite her health problems, Simpson still managed to finish third in this year’s domestic rankings and ran under the two-minute barrier, the benchmark for world-class 800m running, on two occasions.

But, bizarrely, she has axed from the World Class Performance Programme just nine months before the start of the Games.

Even stranger, Tasha Danvers, the injury-plagued Olympic 400m hurdles bronze medallist, remains on “podium” funding, despite having not managed a single race in 2011 and just one race in 2010.

London 2012 Olympics diary: Government clamps down on ambush advertising at Games

One in the eye: Linford Christie wore Puma contact lenses at the Atlanta Games

The Government has expanded its advertising and trading regulations during the London 2012 Olympic Games to specifically outlaw spectators from displaying any form of advertising on the human body.

The law is to prevent advertising stunts such as when Linford Christie wore contact lenses of shoe brand Puma in competition with the Olympic sponsor Reebok at the Atlanta Games, or the spectator who invaded the diving venue in Athens with a company name penned across his chest.

In a tightening of the already detailed rules designed to prevent ambush marketing during the Games, the Government said yesterday: “We will make additional changes to prohibit advertising on the human body.” Anybody who breaks the rule could face a fine of £20,000.

The Government has a raft of restrictions for individuals and groups concerning advertising and trading in and around Olympic venues and some public places like the "live sites" where big screens will broadcast Olympic competition.

Advertising industry bodies had argued to the Government that the regulations should specifically ban tattooing the body with permanent or temporary ink to help protect Olympic sponsors.

More than 40 official sponsors have paid more than £700 million to the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog) to help with their £2.15 billion operating budget.

Other small changes that will be made include allowing the deliveries of essential non-perishable goods like petrol as well as perishable goods during work hours. Cafes and restaurants that have outside spaces with tables and chairs will now require additional authorisation by the Olympic Delivery Authority.

The Government said: “During Games time there will be considerably more footfall and we want to provide clear routes to venues.”

*******

Katherine Endacott, who won a Commonwealth Games 100m silver medal and a 4x100m gold in Delhi, has converted her strong acceleration and speed to become a bobsleigh brakewoman in an attempt to make the TeamGB squad for the Sochi Winter Olympics.

Endacott, along with other members of the squad, has been training at the Michael Johnson centre with the Dallas Cowboys NFL team and Jeremy Wariner and will continue to use those American facilities as a summer base.

Performance Director Gary Anderson said the 12 days spent at the centre were inspiring, especially as it was during the time of the NFL lock-out and players used their own money to pay to train there.

*****

The glitzy British Olympic Ball last Friday night raised nearly £750,000 – enough to support over 30 Team GB athletes in their London Olympic Games quest.

While comedians Miranda Hart and Stephen Fry had to think quickly on their feet for the first ten minutes because of teleprompter failure, the highlight for the 2,100 strong guest list – including winners of 83 Olympic gold medals – was an energetic Sir Tom Jones and his enthusiastic backing band performing well into the early hours.

At one point, Sir Tom raised the golden Olympic torch saying how excited he was about the Games and exhorted: “We better win this bloody thing this summer.” One person paid £80,000 for hospitality packages for four people to the opening ceremony, the men’s 100m finals, the women’s gymnastic finals, a tour of the athletes’ village and adidas TeamGB kit.

***

Olympic organisers are sensitive to the security concerns of their multi-million pound Technology Operations Centre, which is mission control for the timing, results and technology systems during the Games.

At the launch this week, Locog chief information officer Gerry Pennell asked journalists not to reveal the TOC's location. Nor would he reveal where the back up system is housed in case of any ongoing security issues.

Around 450 technology specialists will man the centre, although there will be a total of 5,000 experts including staff from sponsors Atos, BT, Cisco, Acer and Samsung on hand to ensure that the technology remains glitch-free.

Ironically, the timing of the launch coincided with the beginning of Blackberry's technical woes – a timely reminder of the communications issues London faces during Games time.

Mobile phone operators across the UK have formed a consortium and are working on ensuring Wifi in London is as robust as can be.

"We have worked closely with BT and the mobile operators to make sure there is enough infrastructure to provide a good level of service during the Games," Pennell said of mobile phone coverage.

"But there will always be moments when the demand is so huge in sporting events that not everybody can get access."

London 2012 Olympics: Government and Boris should lobby IOC for more British media passes

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has taken umbrage at the lack of local newspaper journalists with accreditation for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

This week, when the International Olympic Committee is in London for its penultimate inspection of the Olympic planning process, Johnson will, hopefully, lobby the Lausanne-based mandarins for more media access.

At the moment the numbers of British print journalists and photographers given accreditation to cover the London Olympics is 530.  That number includes the 90 journalists and photographers from the Press Association, which is committed to providing all of the regional and local newspapers with  extensive coverage.

If we break it down further, the number of  journalists for the whole of  Britain's newspaper industry with "E" accreditations  (unlimited access) is just 270 .

Now let's see. Pick another country, say China. How many journalist and photographer accreditations do they have?  It's 500. Roughly the same.  So for a country with limited media freedom the numbers of accreditations are in line with Britain, which has the most robust competitive media market in the world.

The IOC will say that they have slashed the numbers of accreditations for China, as well as other countries like the USA and Australia compared with the Beijing Olympics. This in order to boost the numbers for Britain, who's total is about double the norm for an away Games. But the numbers are still pitifully low.

Locog and the IOC repeatedly say there are 27,000 journalists covering the London 2012 Olympics. But most of these are broadcast technicians, working behind the scenes ensuring the global television coverage reaches the four billion viewers. The total number of newspaper journalists and photographers from across the world is capped at just 5,500 because this is the total number London organisers factor in their provision of media services.

I have been on a committee for the British Olympic Association (along with other representatives from national, regional and photographic media) to try to decide how the accreditations are distributed. It hasn't been easy.

Over 4,000 applications were received, meaning just one in eight was successful. Essentially, priority was given to publications which face constant deadlines.  Some of the weekly newspapers and specialist magazines have a more intimate relationship with the athletes and don't need such immediate access to interviews after a race. Johnson is lobbying for these titles, and rightly so.

Perhaps the Olympics Minister,  Hugh Robertson, should be in there too, lobbying for far greater access for all of the print media in this country.

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.

London 2012 Olympics diary: Pamela Anderson coming to the Games?

Pamela Anderson could be lighting up London during the Games (Photo: REX FEATURES)

Pamela Anderson was brought up to date with all things Boris Johnson – and Olympics – when she attended the Vivienne Westwood catwalk show at London Fashion Week on Saturday night.

Her date for the evening was the Mayor of London's head of marketing Daniel Ritterband, who was overheard convincing her the athletic action at Stratford would be well worth returning for.

The breakdancing Business secretary

Boris was so upbeat about the economic impact of the London 2012 Olympics he said Business Secretary Vince Cable would not only be smiling, he would be breakdancing down Whitehall.

Johnson didn't give any hint as to which sectors would boom, but noted of previous Games: "In Beijing people made money out of the vast types of beers and in Sydney, I am told, they made money out of flat screen televisions and sales of condoms".

GREAT competition for Games sponsors

The government is looking to add four million tourists and £1 billion to the economy on the back of the Olympics, with Prime Minister David Cameron launching the GREAT Britain campaign this week.

But curiously no one has told the Government of their own strict Olympic advertising restrictions, banning non-Olympic sponsors from making an association of the Games to their business.

Technically the taxpayer is the biggest sponsor of all, with £9.3 billion spent on construction and Games activities, and of course the Government is going to promote the Games, but among the GREAT Britain campaign's supporters were five companies in direct competition to Olympic sponsors.

The ambush marketing people have raised their eyebrows.

From flat water to frozen water

While 11 sailors were the first of 570 Team GB athletes officially named this week, the Olympic sailing team manager Stephen Park has a few non-nautical duties, like barreling headfirst down a skeleton track in Austria later this month.

Park is consulting to the bob-skeleton winter Olympic team and he has insisted on at least one death-defying run.

Party starts now for modern pentathlon

A spiritual home of modern pentathlon – the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst – has started a 12-month celebration until the Olympic Games, with General Sir Peter Wall, head of the British Army, hosting Olympic champions, Jim Fox, Stephanie Cook and Heather Fell last week.

Wall was a former national junior champion, but the most famous modern pentathlete was George S Patton, the US army general who competed at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics.

Sandhurst will host a display of modern pentathlon artefacts, including the  King Helenos Shield, a priceless bronze shield weighing 30kg, which was first presented to the winning team at those Stockholm Games.

Crisis? What transport crisis?

Transport for London chief executive Peter Hendy has identified five critical hotspots of potential conmmuter chaos during the Olympic Games if 30 per cent of people don't change their travel habits, travel earlier, later or not at all, and has warned the gates to the stations of Canary Wharf, Canada Water, London Bridge, Bank and Monument could be closed at peak times during the Games.

Transport minister Theresa Villiers said the Olympic demands on transport would be "significant and severe" but an experiment at the Department of Transport showed 69 per cent of staff could still maintain their normal workloads despite changing their travel habits or working at home.

London 2012 Olympics: politicians attempting to muscle in on Games already

Direction: David Cameron and Boris Johnson are likely to become more involved in the Olympics as the Games gets closer (Photo: REUTERS)

On Wednesday night it was Prime Minister David Cameron's turn. Tomorrow Mayor of London Boris Johnson and the Minister of State for Transport Theresa Villiers will weigh in.

Yesterday the former sports minister Richard Caborn had a shot. Treasury chief secretary Danny Alexander has been vocal too. Suddenly, and seemingly without any warning, the politicians have realised the country is hosting the Olympics next year.

Having outlayed £9.3 billion, exposed taxpayers to a further £2 billion in counter-intelligence and security for the Games, and sneakily allowed the London organisers to assail us with Olympic memorabilia that even includes corgis on Olympic pin badges so Locog can raise its £2.15 billion operating budget, government officials and politicians are muscling in on the act.

History has shown increasingly this will be the case.

As we approach the business end of the Games run-in – when the world's focus is suddenly upon the country in an alarmingly frank and microscopic way, the Government is quite rightly determined to capitalise on any Olympic opportunities and leverage them to the max.

But the political will won't stop at business boosts and how many visitors arrive to stare at Buckingham Palace.

Increasingly our elected leaders will want to be more hands on, have more direct lines of communication, more forensic control of what is underpinning the extravaganza that will see 120 heads of state, royalty and scores of global business leaders arrive to enjoy the sporting party.

Johnson has convinced Villiers  to help London's small businesses get ready for the Games, Caborn is concerned about the failure of a sporting legacy, Alexander wants the "Olympic spirit" to infuse other parts of the flailing economy. Cameron is in New York and gave a Games-related speech.

At previous Games, the Government's role has been more intrusive and inflicted earlier, than the London experience.

Before the Athens 2004 Olympics, Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, a Greek ambassador at large, was recalled by the Greek government to take control of the organising committee when preparations were faltering.

And during the scandal-riddled Salt Lake City 2002 lead up, the current US presidential hopeful Mitt Romney took over from disgraced leaders at the behest of George W Bush in 1999.

At the Sydney 2000 Olympics fears about getting things right prompted a state government coup of the organising committee six months before the Games.

The Olympics Minister Michael Knight put his man, David Richmond in as the deputy – but that second in charge reference was in name only. After the Games, Richmond, who had earlier been in charge of the Sydney equivalent of the Olympic Delivery Authority as well as Knight got the "gold" Olympic order.

The head of the Sydney organising committee Sandy Hollway had to settle for the silver order. Such was the vicious political scene at that time in New South Wales.

The London organising committee, led by the highly respected chief executive Paul Deighton and widely lauded chairman Seb Coe have advantages over other organising committees, in that the major Government agencies are currently politically aligned.

At the moment there is a Coalition government with a liberal Mayor of London.

During the planning stages there has been cross party support and a generous budget.

But now that all of those plans are starting to be put into operation, the numbers of political figures standing alongside the gloss of the Olympic Games is escalating.

How do we know? Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt has already had his first two Olympic related briefings in the past fortnight.

London 2012 Olymipics: politicians attempting to muscle in on Games already

Direction: David Cameron and Boris Johnson are likely to become more involved in the Olympics as the Games gets closer (Photo: REUTERS)

Tonight it is Prime Minister David Cameron's turn. Tomorrow Mayor of London Boris Johnson and the Minister of State for Transport Theresa Villiers will weigh in.

Yesterday the former sports minister Richard Caborn had a shot. Treasury chief secretary Danny Alexander has been vocal too. Suddenly, and seemingly without any warning, the politicians have realised the country is hosting the Olympics next year.

Having outlayed £9.3 billion, exposed taxpayers to a further £2 billion in counter-intelligence and security for the Games, and sneakily allowed the London organisers to assail us with Olympic memorabilia that even includes corgis on Olympic pin badges so Locog can raise its £2.15 billion operating budget, government officials and politicians are muscling in on the act.

History has shown increasingly this will be the case.

As we approach the business end of the Games run-in – when the world's focus is suddenly upon the country in an alarmingly frank and microscopic way, the Government is quite rightly determined to capitalise on any Olympic opportunities and leverage them to the max.

But the political will won't stop at business boosts and how many visitors arrive to stare at Buckingham Palace.

Increasingly our elected leaders will want to be more hands on, have more direct lines of communication, more forensic control of what is underpinning the extravaganza that will see 120 heads of state, royalty and scores of global business leaders arrive to enjoy the sporting party.

Johnson has convinced Villiers  to help London's small businesses get ready for the Games, Caborn is concerned about the failure of a sporting legacy, Alexander wants the "Olympic spirit" to infuse other parts of the flailing economy. Cameron is in New York and will make a Games-related speech.

At previous Games, the Government's role has been more intrusive and inflicted earlier, than the London experience.

Before the Athens 2004 Olympics, Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, a Greek ambassador at large, was recalled by the Greek government to take control of the organising committee when preparations were faltering.

And during the scandal-riddled Salt Lake City 2002 lead up, the current US presidential hopeful Mitt Romney took over from disgraced leaders at the behest of George W Bush in 1999.

At the Sydney 2000 Olympics fears about getting things right prompted a state government coup of the organising committee six months before the Games.

The Olympics Minister Michael Knight put his man, David Richmond in as the deputy – but that second in charge reference was in name only. After the Games, Richmond, who had earlier been in charge of the Sydney equivalent of the Olympic Delivery Authority as well as Knight got the "gold" Olympic order.

The head of the Sydney organising committee Sandy Hollway had to settle for the silver order. Such was the vicious political scene at that time in New South Wales.

The London organising committee, led by the highly respected chief executive Paul Deighton and widely lauded chairman Seb Coe have advantages over other organising committees, in that the major Government agencies are currently politically aligned.

At the moment there is a Coalition government with a liberal Mayor of London.

During the planning stages there has been cross party support and a generous budget.

But now that all of those plans are starting to be put into operation, the numbers of political figures standing alongside the gloss of the Olympic Games is escalating.

How do we know? Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt has already had his first two Olympic related briefings in the past fortnight.

London 2012 Olympics diary: high-risk teams like USA and Israel may not be allowed own security at Games

Extra security: wil Team USA and their president be allowed extra security? (Photo: AP)

New Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe put the London 2012 Olympics at the top of his agenda by appearing at a US Embassy Olympic reception two days into his new job.

Hogan-Howe was enthusiastic about the upcoming Games  and expressed confidence in the £600 million security plans that are already in place.

He mingled with the Minister of the Embassy of the USA, Barbara Stephenson, national Olympic security co-ordinator assistant police commissioner  Chris Allison, London Gold Commander Bob Broadhurst as well as security types from Locog and the US.

Telegraph Sport has learned that while national Olympic teams will be able to have their own security officials the big question mark about whether high-risk teams like the US, Israel and China, can be supported by their own armed personnel is still being discussed.

In the past Israel and the United States have managed to convince Olympic host governments that a small specialist armed presence is required.

Ms Stephenson joked that the US would not be bringing an aircraft carrier down the Thames.

Boris wades in over EastEnders row

The BBC has rejected plans to relocate the popular EastEnders show production to the Olympic Park international broadcast centre prompting the Mayor of London Boris Johnson to be "astonished" at the broadcasters' failure to commit to the East End.

The BBC was offered substantial rent reductions to anchor the £355 million Games media centre and move EastEnders from Borehamwood, Herfordshire.

But the BBC's rejection of the deal means the marketing pitch to turn the centre into a high-tech media hub may prompt the Olympic Park Legacy Company to shift to other ideas such as a fashion hub or sporting retail hub, the commercial property website CoStar has suggested. Other ideas previously floated included a theme park.

Johnson told the London Evening Standard: "This was an opportunity for the BBC to deliver better value for money for hard-pressed licence-fee payers and confront critics who say it's bureaucratic, wasteful and out of touch."

There was the chance for the BBC to show genuine commitment to the East End – an area it has harvested for audiences for decades. I'm astonished that the boss class don't see the obvious advantages of rooting a popular drama in an area it claims to portray.

"Perhaps if they seized this opportunity their plots and script lines would reflect the vibrancy and optimism of this critical part of the capital and not the relentless negativity that often comes across."

Visit Britain and Team USA link up for tourism push

US athletes have been somersaulting and wrestling their way around the UK this week as part of a tourism initiative with VisitBritain.

Beijing Olympic gymnastic champion Nastia Liukin cartwheeled in front of Big Ben while Beijing Paralympic cycling star Allison Jones got to peek inside Number 10 Downing Street.

The decathlon Olympic champion Brian Clay is going to try his hand at the caber toss and stone put at the Highland Games, and then enjoy afternoon tea aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia.

It's part of the £100 million push to get international visitors to the country before the Olympics and comes as the government commits £3 million from the Olympic budget to promote domestic tourism within the UK.

Locog pins hopes on dogs

The opening of the entry to Olympic Park, also known as the Westfield Stratford City on Tuesday, saw mass crowds at the John Lewis store where Olympic memorabilia can be purchased.

It appears sales of the Team GB mascot, Pride the Lion are outselling the one-eyed beasts Wenlock and Mandeville.

But purchasing the mascots or other official merchandise is a problem for customers in the United States. As part of a marketing deal with the US Olympic Committee, the merchandise sales have to go through TeamUSA, where stock is heavily restricted.

While there are 187  different types of pins available for UK and most of the world- including popular dog varieties (the staffy and the corgi varieties are cute)  the US site has just one Wenlock one year to go pin available.

For customers in over 140 countries around the world the hefty postage charges might limit transactions – the mail cost is £34.95.

Serious competition starts now for British swimmers chasing Olympic qualification

Swim to Stratford: Team GB's swimmers like Gemma Spofforth have work to do in the next few months (Photo: GETTY IMAGES)

With the Shanghai World Championships firmly consigned to history, now is when it gets serious for swimmers contemplating a spot at the London Olympics.

Eleven months may remain before the world's best congregate in Stratford, but in the pools and gyms of Britain the hard work has already started for those harbouring ambitions of joining them.

Most of Britain’s swimmers have been enjoying some downtime after their exertions in the Far East, taking advantage of the one part of the year when they are not expected to be training.

For most this has meant three weeks out of the pool and the opportunity to take a holiday to recharge the batteries for the journey ahead, knowing this could be the most important training cycle of their careers.

That journey takes Britain’s swimmers to the Aquatic Centre in March 2012 for the British Championships and their one chance of securing Olympic selection.

The meet is an all or nothing race for qualification, so getting it wrong in March will prematurely end Olympic ambitions. Some events are sufficiently competitive that just qualifying could prove as challenging as competing in the Games themselves.

With that thought in mind, the hard work has already started and in many places has begun out of the pool. Much was made of the introduction of ballet to the Loughborough University squad’s training regime earlier this year, but since their return to training they have also been trying out badminton in combination with their swimming.

In a similar vein, Glasgow’s swim team have taken up judo and Bath’s group spinning, all in order to explore any avenue to improve pool performance.

The cross-training approach has its own hazards. One hundred metre backstroke world record holder Gemma Spofforth recently headed out on a 15-mile cycle ride as part of her efforts to get in shape only to find herself face down on a concrete pavement and in need of a trip to A&E.

Fortunately the damage was limited to a broken nose, a broken toe, and cuts and bruises, so Spofforth expects to back in the water imminently, but the fragility of the athletes’ lot was brought into sharp focus.

Expect to see swimmers being wrapped in cotton wool the closer that trials get and again before the Games.

Some have also been trying out new training bases to kick start their Olympic campaigns. Notable amongst these is Beijing open water bronze medallist Cassie Patten, who has moved across the Pennines from Stockport Metro to train with the City of Sheffield squad.

As a result of the world title won by her team-mate Kerrie-Anne Payne in Shanghai and the strict selection criteria laid down by governing body FINA, Patten is now no longer eligible to compete in the 10km open water event in London.

Instead, she is widely expected to turn her attention to the 800m freestyle in the pool, an event she also contested in Beijing.

At trials, that means she will cross swords with World and Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington and rising star Jazz Carlin who were Britain’s representatives in Shanghai.

Selection is therefore far from assured. Just as the great Ian Thorpe found himself disqualified from the Australian selection trials of 2004, leaving places open for others, anything can happen on the day.

It really is a case of having a lane and having a chance and Carlin in particular will not be taking Patten’s challenge lightly.

British Swimming has also joined in the search for any possible advantage, installing a state of the art traveling overhead camera into the pool at Loughborough that allows a swimmer’s stroke to be monitored directly from above so flaws can be identified and corrected.

Not to be outdone, Australian Swimming has installed an altitude training simulator into their training facility in Sydney to allow swimmers, including world champion James Magnussen, to reap the benefits of training at altitude without having to fly around the world to do so.

Whatever approach is taken, and whatever technological assistance is provided, the next few months will be pivotal.

This will be the one opportunity for Britain’s current crop of swimmers to experience a home Olympics and no-one will want to miss out through a lack of dedication or preparation.

The swim to Stratford really has begun.

• Follow the pullbuoy blog for the latest from the world of swimming – http://www.pullbuoy.co.uk/

Athletics fails its fans by robbing them of competition for Usain Bolt

Competition: Usain Bolt needs to race rivals, not pose for photos (Photo: AP)

Athletics may still regard itself as the blue riband sport of the Olympic Games but it seems determined to alienate its dwindling band of fans.

On Friday, the track and field season reaches its conclusion at the Diamond League final in Brussels, where the cast list includes Usain Bolt and fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake -  the man who dethroned Bolt as world 100 metres champion after the Olympic champion was sensationally disqualified for false-starting in last month’s final in Daegu.

The Ivo van Damme Memorial meeting is one of the best attended on the circuit, and with an expected sell-out crowd of 48,000 it offered the perfect stage to re-run the world-final-that-never-was, testing Bolt’s boast that, had he not been red-carded, he would have been too quick for Blake and the rest of the 100m field in South Korea.

Only the match-up will not be taking place. Unbelievably, the two athletes will be kept apart in different races in Brussels, with Bolt competing in an invitation 100m and Blake running the 200m.

And people wonder why athletics has declined in popularity since its heyday in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Diamond League, which is reaching the end of its second year of existence, was meant to promote more head-to-head clashes between the biggest stars yet the sport continues to shoot itself in the foot by allowing athletes to avoid each other so flagrantly.

In fact, since the last World Championships in Berlin in 2009, you can count on one hand the number of genuinely competitive 100m races Bolt has had – one against Tyson Gay in Stockholm in 2010 and two against Asafa Powell in Paris in 2010 and in Rome earlier this summer.

The world 100m final in Daegu would have been the first time Bolt had raced Blake this season had he not been disqualified. He competed against him only twice last year.

Now call me old-fashioned, but I tend to think that sport works best when competition is involved.

Since the Beijing Olympics, Bolt has been a godsend to meet promoters, more than justifying his eye-watering appearance fees by putting bums on seats and bringing in sponsorship revenue, but building meetings around what is essentially a one-man exhibition is not sustainable in the long term.

I have seen Bolt in action perhaps a dozen times in the last three years and there are already signs that the pre-race theatrics, the lightning-bolt gestures and the laps of honour are starting to

wear thin.

The Rome and Olso crowds lapped it all up this season because he was making his first appearance at their meets, but in Paris, where he was returning for the second successive year, the atmosphere was noticeably more muted – not helped by a dismal 200m race delayed by a faulty start.

What the recent World Championships showed is that true head-to-head competition is the heartbeat of athletics rather than exhibitionism for its own sake.

The moments that stick in the memory are Ethiopian Ibrahim Jeilan hunting down and catching a distressed-looking Mo Farah in the 10,000m final, or Grenadian teenager Kirani James pipping Olympic champion Lashawn Merritt on the line in the 400m final.

They are the kind of moments we can look forward to being repeated in the Olympic Stadium next summer, though outside the major championships, competition appears to be a dirty word.

A 100m clash between Bolt and Blake in Brussels would have been a fitting climax to the season. Instead, the 48,000 paying customers have been outrageously short-changed.