In addition to the regular toys, a total of 2,012 limited edition Mandeville soft toys, which come in an exclusive box, have also gone on sale, with 1,200 being sold at Sainsbury's.

Mandeville mascot soft toys retail in Sainsbury's at £19.99.

Justin King, the chief executive of Sainsbury, said: "London 2012 is going to be here before we know it, and we're urging all of our customers and colleagues to start supporting the Paralympic Games now.

"With so few Mandevilles available, customers will have to be quick off the blocks if they're going to snap one up, as we expect them to fly off the shelves."

Simmonds, who also won four gold medals at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Swimming World Championships in Eindhoven earlier this month, was at Sainsbury's Finchley Road store, along with King, to launch the Mandeville mascots.

As revealed on insideworldparasport yesterday, Simmonds is the new face of Sainsbury's Active Kids campaign.

She said: "I am really excited about becoming part of the Active Kids campaign.

"I've seen first hand, a lot of the great work Sainsbury's has done to supply schools with sports equipment, so I'm really looking forward to being part of this."

The appearance of Mandeville in Sainsbury's stories is the first manifestation of the store's Paralympic sponsorship, which has cost them £20 million.

King said: "The Paralympic story is about triumph in adversity but it's also about merchandise."

Mandeville is also available in the London 2012 store at St Pancras and the John Lewis and Next stores in Oxford Street in London.

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