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The head of Britain's main sponsor of young talent believes concerns about London 2012's impact on grass-roots sport have been exaggerated. The government's handling of the Games' finances has come in for criticism and it has been suggested that grass-roots sport will face the biggest squeeze.
SportsAid's Tim Lawler, however, thinks 2012 offers a golden chance to create a legacy for sport in this country.
"If we can develop some heroes, there is your legacy right there," he said.
"Kids don't pick up a tennis racquet during Wimbledon because they think the administration is great or the courts at the end of their street are in good nick. They are inspired by heroes.
"The Games are our platform for heroes."
 | Grass-roots sport has been under-resourced for yonks and we've been talking about it long before we had the Olympics to blame |
Lawler's comments come on the day a damning report into the handling of the Olympic project's finances was published by a cross-party group of MPs. The Culture, Media and Sport select committee's concerns focussed on rising costs, the Games' legacy and the effect on grass-roots sport of diverting lottery funds to finance the Olympics.
This last point was picked up by Brigid Simmonds from the Central Council for Physical Recreation (CCPR), which represents 270 governing bodies that operate at the broader, sport-for-all level.
"The lottery is not a ministerial piggy bank for the government to raid whenever its sums are wrong. We must ensure that 2012 is not delivered at the cost of grass-roots sport," said Simmonds.
Lawler, who runs the main source of funding in this country for young talent below the lottery-level elite, believes it is a mistake to concentrate on the potential downsides of 2012.
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He admits it is "a big ask" to expect every player in the sponsorship market to meet their 2012 targets in terms of funding and accepts that there will be losers, but he remains confident that the long-term benefits to everybody involved in British sport far outweigh the risks. "It is a bit one-dimensional to say the Games are too expensive and grass-roots sport is going to suffer," he told BBC Sport.
"It's not an and/or situation. We have to find a way to make the whole pot bigger and for it not to be a finite amount.
"Economics will say there is only so much money and it will go wherever it thinks it's going to get the most return. If truth be told, that isn't grass-roots sport. If it was that is where the major brands and government would already be spending their money.
"It sounds harsh, but grass-roots sport doesn't have a God-given right to investment. That's the world SportsAid has been working in for the last 30 years. We have had to go out and graft for our money and make our case.
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"But we're not about displacing money from other people. We're about growing the market by tapping into companies' corporate social responsibility budgets and tempting companies that haven't sponsored sport to dabble a bit." Lawler, whose charity raises 75% of its budget from the private sector and has distributed over �30m in grants since 1976, is sympathetic to those groups that are concerned about their funding but is convinced the Games represent a win-win situation.
"If 2012 was to clean out any investment in grass-roots sport that would be a disaster. But I don't think it will," he said.
"I think it will just take a little off the edges. Because we have to - if ever there was reason to reallocate funding in British sport it's now.
"Grass-roots sport has been under-resourced for yonks and we've been talking about it long before we had the Olympics to blame.
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"The committee have said they are worried about costs, legacy and grass roots. They're the same thing! "People need to start thinking about the legacy in terms of human capital, as well as just the cost of buildings. We should be thinking about developing heroes that will inspire a nation.
"If we do that people will be asking sport about how to get involved; it won't be the other way around."
Lawler, who is celebrating 30 years of SportsAid at a House of Commons reception on Thursday, believes the secret to delivering UK Sport's stated goal of Britain finishing fourth in the 2012 medal table is to make every pound count.
He will tell an audience that includes Sports Minister Richard Caborn that creating new initiatives and agencies when perfectly good ones already exist is a recipe for chaos and waste.
He will also stress SportsAid's key 2012 message that everybody can play their part.
"If you're a plastic cup manufacturer in Carlisle and you want to get involved and do your bit there is no way you're going to get an official link to the Games," he said.
"But you can fund some talented athletes on your patch and we'll help you do it."
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