Figures of no fun at all

Spare a thought for the Olympic figures who often get a bad press, even though they are very popular with kids - the mascots.

The Greeks have chosen big-footed figures based on terracotta dolls dating back 5,000 years.

Phevos and Athena are modelled on play figures unearthed by archaeologists from the Mycenaean period.

But the Greek press had been critical of the siblings named after Olympian gods with one newspaper bemoaning "two vague figures with big feet but without character, fighting spirit, spirituality or feeling".