Team GB’s Olympic fortunes – bargain or bust?

Highs. Lows. Agony. Ecstasy. Enough about what I’ll be going through during the Olympics. What about the competitors? I’ll be following every sporting twist and turn as the London games weave an utterly unpredictable drama for two short summer weeks. But the intrigue of course started long ago.

Can Usain Bolt really rewrite the record books – again – and run faster than any human being has ever run before?

Will double amputee Oscar Pistorius continue to redefine our notion of “disability”?

Is Team GB’s goal of coming 4th in the medal table hopelessly ambitious?

Sir Chris Hoy, Ben Ainslie, and Rebecca Adlington defend their Olympic titles with every reason to be confident. But what about the new kids on the block – like Tom Daley, Jess Ennis, and Mo Farah?

Where will Britain’s surprise sporting successes arrive from? And which sports will be suddenly thrust into the nation’s conscience? Triathlon – with both British men and women top of the world rankings? Womens’ Boxing – the 2012 Olympics’ only new sport? Or perhaps Taekwondo – with Team GB fresh from their best ever showing at a European Championships?

Will performance-enhancing drugs be the scourge of London’s home games?

And crucially – bargain, or bust? When the bunting has come down and the cream of the world’s athletes have gone home, how will we assess the 2012 Olympics’ £9bn price tag? And the £100m-a-year British elite athletes receive from public and lottery funds? Will it all have been worth it?

In sporting terms, we will hear much about legacy, participation, and the future of the Olympic venues.

But for one day in August when the closing ceremony signals the end of the 2012 Olympiad, 3 figures above all others will influence the answer.

Gold: 19

Silver: 13

Bronze: 15

That’s the number of medals Team GB won in Beijing; its biggest haul ever. And the number they need to beat to make their home games an unqualified success.