Warm Up Weekend must show Britain's got talent

THERE'S 1078 days to go until the London Olympics begin but this weekend we'll get a taste of what to expect in a shade less than three years' time.

 WARMING UP: London stages a mini Olympics this weekend as countdown to 2012 gathers pace

The Modern Pentathlon World Championships began on Thursday in Crystal Palace and will reach a climax over the weekend while the London leg of the World Triathlon Championships arrives in Hyde Park on Saturday.

And if that's not enough to whet the appetite, there's Game On at the O2, as Great Britain men's basketball team get together ahead of their EuroBasket campaign.

On the face of it, Warm Up Weekend, as it is known in the corridors of power in Westminster, is the ideal way for London to showcase its talents for administering sporting events.

It's certainly had Boris and co at the Mayor of London's office excited.

And the demand appears to be there. Al tickets for the modern pentathlon were sold in advance of Thursday's opening semi final, while big crowds are expected at the O2 for Great Britain's three matches against Israel, Turkey and Poland.

And there is sure to be both a big turn-out for the elite triathlon on Saturday, as well as the maximum number of contestants for the Sunday event which is open to the public.

But how can you gauge success of the weekend?

The suits would churn out phrases such as infrastructure and frameworks, essential by-words for no natural disasters or terrorist attacks and it's been a success.

And yes these test events are important to prove everything will run smoothly in three years time but in a country as civilized as ours, surely we can back ourselves to put on a show.

So perhaps we should be gauging the weekend in terms of British success in each of the three competitions.

But that is where Great Britain could come a cropper.

South of the river in the modern pentathlon, the British ranks boast Olympic silver medallist Heather Fell, but by her own admissions, she is struggling with the new run/shoot format - not as easy as it looks according to my esteemed colleague.

Way out west, the Brits could be the ones to watch though. Helen Jenkins is the reigning women's world champion while Alistair Brownlee has won the three legs of the series he has competed in.

But even he is not too sure about the course that meanders through Hyde Park, while Jenkins is more concerned with peaking for London 2012.

And so we head east to the Dome. British basketball has come on leaps and bounds in recent years and the men's team boasts three NBA stars - the only problem is, they're all missing Game On.

Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Luol Deng and Ben Gordon are all established stars across the pond but due to injuries and contract wranglings, the trio will be absent - significantly weakening GB's team.

So London's Warm Up Weekend really could go horribly wrong in terms of success in the south, west and east of London in the coming days.

And as for the north....................I think Spurs might be at home for what it's worth!