London 2012 Olympic Games: mascots launched

London 2012 Olympic Games: mascots launched; Lord Coe interview SOT - they are Wenlock and Mandeville / are for children and are for children and a great way to engage and excite them and take up sport... - names are rooted in our Olympic and Paralympic history. Much Wenlock was the village in Shropshire that was inspiration for what Baron Pierre de Coubertin went on to do when he formed Olympic Games in 1896 - Stoke Mandeville was the scene of birth of Paralympic movement: 1948 when athletes were competing in London, Dr Ludwig Guttman was working at Stoke Mandeville rehabilitating damaged minds and bodies after the war, using sport tas way of doing that - I wanted not just to engage children in sport but I also wanted to root an anchor our own Olympic and Paralympic history in people's minds 2 years out from London 2012. Q: how important is it to get mascots right? Coe SOT - It's important and we've worked hard on this - they're aimed at children, introducing them to fun things off back of games, - they told us they wanted something they related to and was good story Q: are mascots designed by focus group? Coe SOT - No they're not designed by focus group but in large part young people and the vision we took to Singapore - using games as bridge head for young people to do all sorts of things they might not have done had we come back empty handed and determined to root our own Olympic and Paralympic history Q: will these be cuddly? Coe SOT - They will be cuddly fluffy and soft...we've unveiled something today...the story is they formed out of 2 drops of steel that fell from the last girder made in N of England in a steel business which is now forming the basis of the Olympic stadium / was steel but they will be soft Q: worried about reaction? Coe SOT - If in a few weeks the whole world will be talking about them in same way as logo then yes / logo is exciting children / happy to have designed something formed out of what chi...