…check out the ideas for mascots

The Olympics are busy gathering attention for appalling pollution, dismal human rights records and ridiculous food bans, so it’s easy to lose focus on the fact that we will be hosting the event in 2012. But the genii at the BBC have stuck the Olympiad right back into the national consciousness by asking folks to submit their own ideas for Olympic mascots.

The very best entries have been published by the BBC, and most are at about the same standard as the God-awful Lisa-Simpson-performing-a-sex-act official logo. Above, for example, is the imaginatively-titled ‘Sock’ by Terry Scott.

‘Mr Belvedere’ is meant to be a Dickensian athlete, but he looks more like a man you wouldn’t like to see in the park late at night

See more mascots after the jump…