Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

"In the gym I'm the strongest I've ever been, on a bike I'm the fastest I've ever been, and BMX-wise I'm the most skilled I've ever been. Mentally, it's getting there."

At the midway point between Beijing 2008, where she spectacularly crashed out of her final, and London 2012, believes she now has the mental strength required to win Olympic gold.

One of the most exciting characters in British Olympic sport, in terms of both talent and personality, Reade, now 21, was the teenage hot favourite for gold on BMX's Olympic debut in Beijing.

But she and, as she plunged into the dirt, so hopes of what had seemed a nailed-on gold medal went with her.

British Cycling's wild child came back down to earth with a bump. Reade spent much of the next year out with an , unable to get back on a bike and set things right.

The Crewe racer has had plenty of time to reflect on what went wrong, and why she failed to live up to the hype, much of which she generated herself. And with time have come answers.

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The days from will be the biggest, and most testing, in the lives of hundreds of British Olympic athletes and their coaches.

They have spent years preparing for the chance to win medals in front of the largest crowds they will ever face, the vast majority of whom will be roaring home athletes on to anticipated glory.

Two years from the official opening of the 2012 Olympic Games in London, if those athletes and coaches do not have a very good idea of how they are going to challenge for those medals and bring home results, they can probably forget about it.

Which sports are on track to meet their targets in 2012? Which are struggling, and where do precious points and seconds - potentially the difference between a gold medal and obscurity - hang in the balance?

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Become a volunteer and you too can be drenched from head to toe by some of Britain's finest Olympic prospects.

That's one of many lessons I took from a day helping out at the at the weekend, having pledged to discover what volunteers actually get out of the experience.

There will be up to 70,000 positions for volunteers at London 2012 - who will go by the moniker "" - and those places are expected to be heavily oversubscribed, with hundreds of thousands having already registered their interest.

Ahead of 2012 there are in Britain, including test events for each sport, which UK Sport says will need more than 10,000 volunteers (and may prove handy on the CV if you want to be a part of the Olympics).

But what makes people give up their spare time, at their own cost? Why is volunteering at the Games so popular, and what can you expect if you actually do get to volunteer in two years time at 2012, or before that? I donned my bright red volunteer's t-shirt to find out.

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The World Cup has left the building and the octopus has taken retirement. Isner and Mahut have trudged wearily out of the Wimbledon gates and the wind is just about dying down .

But if you think that's it for another summer of sport, you're wrong. This is the busiest time of year for sports that make up the Olympic Games, with British athletes preparing for - or doing battle in - major tournaments across the globe.

On Tuesday 27 July, we reach the two-year marker ahead of the , and it is starting to get even more serious for Britain's finest. Those still in the reckoning for places in Team GB have to work harder than ever to fight off intense competition; those pushed out of the picture are running out of time to get back into the frame.

All of which means that if you watch any of these sports now, you will see athletes striving for an Olympic promised land which gets closer by the day - even if, to some of them, it might start to feel more distant than ever.

The action is frantic and the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ will broadcast live, report from, and bring you the results of dozens of events between now and the , which are being staged in India from 3 October.

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Speak to any of the England women at hockey's Champions Trophy in Nottingham, where they in the tournament's history on Sunday, and the word "belief" is inescapable.

If belief were a player then Argentine star could kiss her Player of the Tournament trophy goodbye. Belief has been scoring goals, making impossible saves, trashing the world rankings and turning around half-time deficits.

It is that rare asset, a game changer, and this England team haven't had one of those for a while. Now, with belief in the middle of the park pulling the strings, they argue they are ripe to install themselves in the world's top four.

More than that, donning colours in 2012, belief is starting to make these women think about an Olympic gold medal.

But how are England defining that word, how have they manufactured it, and is it really the key to success in two years' time?

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It came as a sad surprise, travelling to Manchester for the World Lacrosse Championships, to learn that the would not get there in time for their opening game against England.

What's worse is that it seems to have been a surprise for the Iroquois, too.

The Native Americans were barred from entering the UK because British immigration officials do not recognise their Iroquois Confederacy passports, and the team refuse to register for American or Canadian passports on principle.

Talks between the various parties are ongoing and the Iroquois - credited with helping to invent the sport of lacrosse - may yet make an appearance at the first to be held in Europe.

But while the mood in Manchester is one of sadness that such a respected team are missing out, even the rain hasn't dampened a colourful, vibrant tournament and a sport nothing like the one some casual spectators expect to see.

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