Jackie Chan, dubious mascots and tearful volleyball coaches: everything you need to know about this summer's Games

A is for air pollution

Readings in late May registered Beijing's air as 'hazardous' (only one further level on the scale exists). On a bad day, smog can cut visibility to 300m - which would make it difficult to see from one end of the Bird's Nest stadium to the other. Athletes are concerned about the effect on their health, with Haile Gebrselassie refusing to run the marathon and the Australian team forbidden to march in the opening ceremony. Team GB's plan has been confused: James Bond-like 'anti-pollution mouthpieces' were unveiled in January, but the team have flip-flopped as to whether to wear them and risk offending the hosts.

B is for British women

Ignoring a horrible 1996 Games, British sportswomen have been on the rise. Could this summer be the first in which they gather more than the men? Denise Lewis thinks so. 'Who will medal in Beijing? Female competitors,' she told us in May.

C is for Coughlin

'I like my wine, I like my butter,' says the long-armed, milkmaid-pretty Natalie Coughlin - as if her life as the greatest American female swimmer ever was mostly about sensory pleasure. More precisely, as she sips lemonade over lunch in a San Francisco suburb, she's talking about the city's farmers' market. 'Hog Island Oyster Company?' she says, grinning wide with her big, perfect teeth. 'I'm completely obsessed with that. [Chef] Alice Waters, too - I mean totally obsessed.'

It's not as if the 25-year-old isn't obsessed with swimming, too. She is an odds-on favourite for multiple golds at the Olympics and, for the sheer range of events she dominates, is one of the most versatile swimmers ever - male or female. During her freshman year at swimming powerhouse University of California, Berkeley, Coughlin won five national titles, broke two American records, and took gold at the 2001 world championships.

A shoulder injury kept her out of the Sydney Olympics, but she continued to rack up university and national records until the 2004 Games in Athens, from which she returned with the most impressive medal haul of any American woman swimmer yet - two gold, two silver, and one bronze. She currently holds four world records and is the first woman to break a minute in the 100metres backstroke. (She has broken her own world record in the event twice, most recently in February.)

Observers generally credit Coughlin with a near-supernatural feel for the water, which she demonstrated during a recent morning workout by slipping underwater, straightening her body over the bottom of the UC Berkeley pool, starting her flutter kick from a dead stop, and submarining faster than most people can freestyle on the water's surface.

Coughlin dismisses the water-feel business as something every elite swimmer shares. The only talent she'll admit to is responding well to coaching - along with knowing how to focus during a workout. 'Almost like OCD,' she says, laughing, 'I can focus on my whole body for two hours, just constantly going up and down and evaluating what is going on.'

After Athens, Coughlin flew home to a measure of celebrity almost unheard of for a swimmer: flight attendants announced her presence on planes, crowds ogled her at baggage claim, and there was the obligatory appearance on Letterman. But the more she talks about her life - about spending a few hours a day in the pool, walking her dog, and cooking elaborate meals for her boyfriend (a former collegiate swimmer) - the more that life sounds borderline normal, though with more Pilates and a lot of peeing in paper cups for the drug-testers.

Beijing, however, should be Coughlin's greatest challenge yet. It's not just because she will face her first serious competition in the backstroke in the form of France's Laure Manaudou and Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry; it's also because Beijing restaurants are famous for their quick-fried mutton tripe.

Daniel Duane

D is for drugs

Here are the little helpers most likely to be found in cheaters' bloodstreams:

Anabolic steroids Types of synthetic testosterone that increases muscle and strength. Normally injected.

Most used by Weightlifters, sprinters, throwers.

Risk of detection High - even for the 'designer' drug THG.

EPO Erythropoietin, a hormone that increases the number of red blood cells, getting more oxygen to your muscles. Normally injected.

Most used by Cyclists, sprinters.

Risk of detection Relatively high.

Human growth hormone Artificial version of a protein that stimulates cell production; increases muscle mass and aids recovery. Injected or taken in capsule form.

Most used by Swimmers, although its use is thought to be widespread.

Risk of detection Low. Only shows up in a complicated blood test, and is mainly used in the off-season.

E is for Elis Lapenmal

... and the other Olympic underdogs. Lapenmal is a 100m wild-card entrant from the South Pacific island state of Vanuatu with a personal best of 13.10sec, although at least he has the right training facilities - Palestinian swimmer Hamza Abdu practises in a half-size pool.

If IOC president Jacques Rogge had his way, they wouldn't compete - but Sydney would not have been the same without the brave, inept swim from Eric 'The Eel' Moussambani, the hero from Equatorial Guinea.

F is for floppers

Plant legs, wait for contact, hurl self backwards and slide with bemused expression on face. This is flopping - the basketball equivalent of diving in football - and the NBA is so worried about its increased influence in games that it is planning a system of fines from next season.

Before then, flopping is likely to have a part to play in the Olympics, with a handful of the NBA's biggest offenders in competition. Top of the list is Argentina's Manu Ginóbili, whose exaggerated crumples for the San Antonio Spurs enrage rival fans. In Beijing, Ginóbili will face off against frequent floppers such as Andrei Kirilenko of Russia and Dwayne Wade of the USA. Should Brazil qualify this month, they will be joined by Anderson Varejão, the master of the backward flail.

G is for Gorillaz

The duo behind the cartoon-fronted band, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, have produced the soundtrack and title sequence for the BBC's Olympic coverage. In the two-minute animation, three colourful characters will journey to Beijing - Monkey, Pigsy and Sandy, inspired by the cult Seventies TV show Monkey. 'The key aim was to try to bring the Olympics to newer and younger audiences,' said a BBC spokesperson, failing to mention whether that other character - the kid with the sceptre who kept saying 'No violence, Monkey!' - would feature too.

H is for hostesses

Take a moment to acknowledge all that arduous training when Olympians are awarded their medals - not only by the athletes, but also the red-suited 'victory ceremony hostesses' who will present flowers to the winners. Selected after a long series of auditions, the hostesses have spent months learning to smile, walk and bow according to strict rules. Good posture has been ensured by a drill requiring the hostesses to stand with a book on their heads while clutching a sheet of paper between their knees. Smiles, which must reveal 'only six to eight teeth', were strengthened by marathon sessions of chopstick-biting. 'By the end of the class, our lips were numb,' said one hostess, 'but after several days, the smile came naturally.'

I is for Irving Saladino

He failed to qualify for the Olympics in 2004, but the Panamanian long jumper has re-emerged as a favourite for Beijing after winning last year's world championships. Most excitingly, he leapt further than anyone for 14 years with a jump of 8.73m in May. American Mike Powell's 8.95m record has stood for 17 long years - could we finally see it broken this summer? 'On the right day, in the right atmosphere, then it's possible to break the world record,' Saladino insists.

J is for Jackie Chan

As well as being an official ambassador of the Olympics (and owner of a Segway dealership that will provide a fleet of the upright devices for use at the Games), kung-fu star Chan has also recorded one of the tournament's official songs. 'We Are Ready!' is an unflinching celebration of Beijing's Olympic preparation that stays just this side of sinister, with lyrics such as: 'Waiting day after day/The feelings continue to surge/Building the biggest performing stage/In a bold and generous era.' See it on YouTube.

K is for Kathrin Boron

The German Steve Redgrave: Boron, a 38-year-old Deutsche Bank employee, will compete for her fifth consecutive rowing gold at Beijing in the quadruple sculls.

L is for Leander and Mahesh

Doubles partners Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi (winners of three grand slam titles) haven't been on speaking terms for more than two years, and have conducted a public spat in the newspapers for the past three months. But now, because they are 'true patriots', according to the All India Tennis Association, they will play together in Beijing. Can the hasty alliance last?

M is for mascots

Waldi, multicoloured dachshund, symbol of the Munich Games in 1972, and the first official Olympic mascot, doesn't know how easy he had it. In recent years, few of them have escaped public wrath.

Beijing 2008

Mascots Five of them: fish, panda, bird, Olympic flame and Tibetan antelope (uh-oh).

Reaction The last one was interpreted by some as an effort to claim more Chinese authority over Tibet. The mascots' group name, the 'friendlies', was abandoned, apparently, because it sounded too similar to 'friendless' and 'friend lies'.

Athens 2004

Mascots Athena and Phevos, based on terracotta dolls.

Reaction Likened to condoms and post-nuclear mutants by Greek pundits, and described as 'a national catastrophe'.

Sydney 2000

Mascots Olly, a generous kookaburra; Syd, an energetic platypus; and Milly, a 'techno wiz' anteater.

Reaction So unpopular they inspired unofficial rivals (see P for protests).

Atlanta 1996

Mascot Izzy, 'the first mascot designed by a computer'.

Reaction 'No national or regional meaning,' said the New York Times, 'nothing whatsoever to do with Atlanta or the South or anyplace else.' The name is derived from the most common response to the thing, 'What is it?'

Barcelona 1992

Mascot Cobi, a cubist, suit-wearing sheepdog.

Reaction The last Olympic mascot that can be called a success: Cobi got his own TV show.

N is for new disciplines

In the particular lexicon of the Olympics, there are sports, within which there are disciplines, within which there are events. This year's Games will have no new sports, but one new discipline: BMX, an eye-catching addition to the cycling programme - sorry, sport, sport! - that is intended, in part, to recapture the young, shaggy-haired audience lost to extreme sports tournaments such as the X Games.

Lip-studded Cheshire girl Shanaze Reade is emerging as the discipline's new star. After winning the world championships in June by quite a distance, and triumphing at a test event on the Olympic track last August, 19-year-old 'Speedy Readey' will go to Beijing as the favourite to win the inaugural gold.

Away from cycling, new events have been scattered across the Olympic spectrum, notably a women's 3,000m steeplechase in athletics and men's and women's 10km in swimming. Women's team foil and team sabre events have been added to fencing, while doubles table tennis has been axed to make way for a new three-person team event, a Ryder Cup-style combo of doubles and singles matches.

O is for Olympic village

A centrepiece of the 160-acre Olympic village is the 'Casual Dining Hall' - open 24 hours a day for 'massive servings of western food and buffets', provided by American caterers Aramark. Around 16,000 Olympians and 7,000 Paralympians will be fed a choice of 800 dishes, including Moroccan lemon chicken and Senegalese stew. Under rules designed to police drug-use - and to protect sponsorship agreements - athletes are not allowed to bring their own food into the village; the Americans have already announced that they will feed their team elsewhere.

To entertain the athletes during long periods of down-time, the village will have a library, a DVD room and sports facilities, including table tennis and a place to play 'sand arc ball' (a cross between shuffleboard and snooker). Chinese Taiji boxing and other performances will be staged in the central Flag Raising Square. All rooms will be equipped with broadband, and MTV China will be broadcast on the village's private television network (programmes to include 100 MTV Ways to Rock the Olympic Games).

Village residents will sleep in two- and three-person rooms in beds that are 6ft 7in long; basketball giants such as 7ft 6in Yao Ming will have special extenders added. Tap water in athletes' rooms will be drinkable, but the Australian team have been instructed by their dietician not to drink it. 'They should only drink bottled water,' Dr Fiona Pelly said, warning also that there could be problems 'eating salads or fruit or anything that is washed in the water supply'. The Aussies are also smarting after being refused permission to bring in jars of Vegemite.

Athletes will travel to and from venues in a fleet of 50 lithium-battery-powered buses - but it is unclear whether any will make it into the city itself. In May, market-research firm Access Asia reported that the chances of athletes being allowed out of the village to explore were 'minimal', dubbing the compound 'Stalag Beijing'.

P is for protests

Podium protests against China's human-rights record are a likelihood this summer. Athletes planning to make a statement may want to look to these memorable stands for tips.

The silent gesture

200m runners Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised clenched, gloved fists on the winners' podium in 1968 (a gesture in support of the civil-rights movement) and were expelled from the US Olympic team. 'I felt it was time for the young black American male to stand up for his cause,' Smith told The Observer this year.

Caslavska's averted gaze

Czechoslovakian gymnast Vera Caslavska made a subtler (no less brave) podium protest at the '68 Games. After coming equal first in the floor exercises with a competitor from the USSR, Caslavska cast her eyes down for the duration of the Soviet national anthem - an act of protest against the country's invasion of her homeland two months earlier. After the Games, she was punished by being denied employment and permission to travel; it was not until the Soviet Union fell that her gesture was nationally recognised.

Fatso and the Aussies

The official animal mascots of the Sydney Games were so unpopular in Australia that a comedy TV show was moved to create an alternative: 'Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat'. He was such a hit that swimmers Michael Klim, Grant Hackett and Susie O'Neill took Fatso on to the podium with them, upsetting the Games' organisers. 'I didn't understand its significance,' Klim said of his protest. 'I just thought it was a wombat... yeah, with a big arse.'

Q is for queue-jumping

... and other undesirable Chinese habits that have been targeted by the government. It is part of a general campaign to clean up the behaviour of the locals before the tourists arrive, and has included a poster and text-message drive to discourage shoving, swearing and belching, as well as a monthly 'Queueing Day' that asked locals to 'voluntarily wait in line, be polite and put others first'. Male taxi drivers have been told not to shave their heads or grow beards, while female cabbies have been instructed not to wear earrings or adopt 'too fancy' hairstyles.

The biggest clampdown, however, has been on spitting, declared the city's worst habit by the Capital Ethics Development Office. There are some signs of success: a recent report showed that public hocking is down by 2.4 per cent.

R is for Reese Hoffa

World champion shot-putter Hoffa (also a Rubik's Cube expert) has a unique celebration: 'the turkey trot', in which the American jogs a victory lap while nibbling on a giant turkey leg.

S is for Speedo and the swimsuit war

Speedo's LZR Racer has lived up to billing as 'the world's fastest swim suit' - athletes wearing the hi-tech outfit have set 38 new world records (out of 42) since its February launch. Chaos has followed: sponsorship contracts have been broken, coaches have complained of 'technological doping', and Speedo's rivals have rushed to create their own competitive outfits in time for Beijing. Here are the major players.

Speedo LZR Racer

The new benchmark in swimsuit technology, with a 'compression zone' around the torso that counters muscle vibration, Speedo's is the suit to beat. See it on Michael Phelps, among others.

Arena R-evolution+

The Italian firm's new seamless suit has calmed the fears of France's 400m Olympic champion Laure Manaudou, who burst into tears after losing to a Speedo-clad rival in April.

Mizuno Swim

So unpopular with the Japanese team that they have been allowed to break their contract and choose their own suits; 100m breaststroke champ Kosuke Kitajima went straight to Speedo.

Adidas

Members of the Adidas-sponsored German team - which includes Britta Steffen - begged to switch to the LZR Racer in April, but were appeased by the company's new suit after tests in June.

T is for timekeeping

At the ancient Olympics, the Greeks measured seconds using ropes attached to wooden beams. Things have moved on a bit - this year's equipment, provided by Omega, will be the most exact so far, thanks to such new technologies as micro-lightweight transponders in every athlete's bib, and the Scan'O'Vision Star photo-finish camera, which takes more than 2,000 images each second (the starting pistol is recorded visually because races can be won by margins smaller than the time taken for its sound to cover the distance). A false start registers if the footpad underneath an athlete's shoe registers the slightest change in pressure within 0.1sec of the gun, because it is physically impossible to react in less time. Omega have also introduced GPS technology to monitor the positions of canoeists, sailors and rowers, while the scoreboards will display results in English and Chinese characters.

U is for Ueta

Tatsuya Ueta is possibly our favourite non-athlete heading to Beijing. Japan's men's volleyball coach was reduced to tears when his team qualified for their first Olympic appearance for 16 years. When Ueta first met the team in 2005, the players were in such a slump that, according to the coach, they smoked, 'didn't eat breakfast' and 'didn't even say hello'. Now? 'I'll say it straight,' said a wet-eyed Ueta in June, 'we'll be aiming for a medal in Beijing.'

V is for Victory Spike

At 93 grams, each Nike Zoom Victory Spike weighs less than a half-eaten chocolate bar and is the lightest running spike ever produced. The secret of the shoe, which could be worn in Beijing by Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang, lies in the attractive red-and-black crisscross design - 'flywire' supports, modelled on the chords of a suspension bridge, that keep the thing together without the need for any excess material. An everyday-wear version without the spikes, available for £85, is titled the Nike Zoom Victory Plus.

W is for the Water Cube

The venue for Beijing's swimming and diving events looks pretty average from the inside: couple of pools, couple of diving boards. Until you look at the walls and ceiling, made of futuristic air-filled pillows that appear almost translucent and heat the building when it's sunny. From the outside the building is even more impressive: a blue-glowing cube that looks like a giant blob of bath bubbles, trimmed to shape with the help of a set square. We'll have one in London for 2012, please.

X is for Xinhua News

China's state-sponsored news agency is often criticised for its blinkered take on world events, but it has been the source of some wonderful Olympic stories. Take, for example, a news release last November saying that white mice were to be co-opted as poison testers in the Olympic village (salad, rice, milk and other foods were to be fed to the rodents 24 hours before reaching the mouths of visiting athletes). Or the announcement, last month, that an official Chinese cheer, featuring the double thumbs-up, 'will be popularised among spectators in the weeks leading up to the Olympics'. Or golden 'Chinglish' headlines such as 'Immigrators embrace Beijing Olympic torch with enthusiasm'. We could go on.

Y is for Yelena Isinbayeva

The reigning Olympic, world and European champion; the only woman to pole-vault more than five metres; breaker of 21 world records (most of them her own). The Russian is a tyrant with a fibreglass stick, and, after Carolina Klüft's decision not to compete in the heptathlon, is likely to be as flawless as any female athlete competing in Beijing. Another gold for her collection is a virtual certainty, with American Jenn Stuczynski, her closest rival, lodged around the 4.9m mark. Sometimes, a lack of serious competition makes for boring sport. But when an athlete is this good...

Z is for Zara Phillips

... and the other world-class athetes who won't be competing in Beijing. From the British camp, Jessica Ennis and Mark Lewis-Francis are definitely out, while Paula Radcliffe and Nicola Sanders face a struggle to be fit in time; Phillips was ruled out by a leg injury to her horse, Toytown. Elsewhere, Australian swimmer Nick D'Arcy will almost certainly miss out, having been dropped following an alleged drunken bar fight, while America's gold-medal gymnast Paul Hamm is a doubt after missing the US Olympic trials with a broken hand (he has since petitioned for inclusion). Bulgaria's Milen Dobrev will definitely be unable to defend his weightlifting gold due to a back injury. Tennis players Andy Roddick, Richard Gasquet and 2000 silver medallist Tommy Haas are preserving themselves for the US Open; while Everton footballer Joseph Yobo will miss Beijing after Nigeria's team secretary forgot to include his name on the squad list.