Fearless Locog show backbone with London 2012 mascots

YOU have to hand it to the London 2012 organisers - upon unveiling their mildly terrifying looking official mascots they certainly proved they've got backbone.

SET TO SHINE: Wenlock (r) and Mandeville are sure to be synonymous with London 2012 by the time the Olympic and Paralympic Games roll around (Locog)

With the official logo fiasco - which came at a cost of £400,000 - still fresh in the memories they showed no fear in unveiling Wenlock and Mandeville - two one-eyed steel creatures, borne out of the steel used for the Olympic Stadium in east London.

These shiny steel beings are not ones to stand quietly in the corner. They're in your face little so-and-so's and they're here to make their presence felt.

And Wenlock and Mandeville have a number of unique design features we're assured.

These include yellow lights on their heads, inspired by London's iconic black taxis and Wenlock wears friendship bands in the colours of the Olympic rings.

Mandeville meanwhile, not to be outdone, wears a timing device to track its personal best. 

And the mascots' single eye is a camera, which will capture the people they meet, the places they go and the sports they try on their journey to 2012.

It must be said that Locog deserve credit for their choice of names. Both have genuine significance to Great Britain's Olympic and Paralympic history and are infinitely better than Atlanta 1996's Izzy - supposedly a sperm in sneakers.