The standards were agreed by the IAAF Council at their recent meeting in Daegu and are being published in accordance with the schedule of the Qualification System for Athletics.

Among the highlights are the A-standard for the men's 100 metres, which will be 10.18sec, and the women's marathon, set at 2 hours 37min, a time that Britain's Paula Radcliffe should be able to achieve without any difficulty.

Another significant figure is the 400m, where the A-standard has been set at 45.25, which is the target that South Africa's four-time champion Paralympic Oscar Pistorius must achieve if he is to run in the individual event at the Olympics.

Pistorius has already run the B-standard of 45.70 having clocked 45.61 at the Nedbank National Championships for Physically Disabled in Rustenburg last month. 

But a country is not allowed to send an athlete on the B-standard if someone else has the A-standard.

The qualifying period officially begins on May 1 and runs until July 8 2012, except for the 10,000m, marathon, race walks and combined events, which opened on January 1.

Qualifying for the relays also opened on January 1 but will close on July 2 2012.

To read the full list of standards click here.

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