But as the Who's 68-year-old frontman has been carrying a bus pass for the past three years, it is probably safe to assume that Lord Coe had a different demographic in mind when he revealed that "inspire a generation" would be the motto of the London Games.
Most of that target market would have been tucked up in bed by the time Daltrey did his turn. And after watching two weeks of enthralling sport they may well have been dreaming of a time when they might match the feats of Bradley or Jessica, little Mo or big Sir Chris. But in the critical weeks and months ahead, how easy will it be to set out on the road to making those dreams come true?
And how likely that many will even try? It is a marvellous theory, enduringly attractive to politicians of every hue, that young people will be motivated to take up sports by watching the feats of the world's best, but it is not one that is burdened with a compelling body of supporting evidence. In fact, it is fiendishly difficult to think of examples of events that led to significant and lasting upsurges in participation or success – and remarkably easy to think of those that didn't.
English football reached its zenith with the 1966 World Cup win, but the international team spent much of the next three decades in the doldrums. The Scottish rugby team won Grand Slams in 1984 and 1990, but the numbers taking part in the sport plummeted. Greece won 16 medals, six of them gold, when they hosted the 2004 Olympics; their not-so-inspired generation's return from London was two, both bronze.
Indeed, the Greeks' handling of that legacy would make their management of economic affairs seem almost masterful. Crass bureaucracy meant many of their venues lay unused for years and the superb weightlifting centre was handed over to a university to be used as a lecture theatre. On top of which, Greece now has the worst childhood obesity record in Europe.
"There was no lasting legacy in Greece for the kids," said one seasoned observer of the Greek sporting scene, "merely for the backsliding politicians and developers who managed to line their pockets at the expense of the Greek taxpayers."
Things may be a little more orderly in Britain, but it is still hard to square the grandstanding proclamations of cabinet ministers about an inspired generation with the reality of swingeing local authority budget cuts, the slashing of £162 million funding of school sports partnerships in England and the continued selling-off of playing fields.
Or, for that matter, with the findings of the Downing Street strategy unit's 2002 report "Game Plan" which stated that: "There is little evidence that hosting events has a significant influence on participation. It would seem that hosting events is not an effective, value-for-money method of achieving a sustained increase in mass participation."
Yet the cynic who dismisses London 2012 as nothing more than a bread-and-circuses political vanity project is missing an important point. For the fact is that the Games created a tidal wave of goodwill and enthusiasm and fostered an appreciation that sport lifts spirits as well as improving bodies. As poor as previous legacies might have been, there is surely a massive opportunity in that alone.
"Achieving real legacy requires a very special effort," says Alistair Gray, executive chairman of the Winning Scotland Foundation and one of the most experienced administrators in Scottish sport. "Previous Olympics have shown how difficult it can be to deliver. It cannot simply be left to government to achieve an impactful legacy on the ground."
The focus of Gray's own organisation, which he co-founded with industrialist and former Scotland rugby international Sir Bill Gammell in 2006, is on helping young people achieve their personal best through sport. Its flagship programmes include Champions in Schools, which involves school visits by recognised role models in sport, and Work Out for Sport, through which volunteers from the business world use their skills to help the development of sports clubs in local communities.
At Scottish government level, Gray sees value in the creation of a leadership group involving organisations like his own to promote genuine change at grass-roots level.
"What sport has to do is make it easy for people to come along," Gray says. "They have to be open for business. They've got to be welcoming and they've got to embrace the parents and children who come along and make them feel welcome in the club.
"My worry is that clubs and the governing bodies in Scotland have not got their legacy plans in place. How open are they for business would be my question. What are the schools doing? Have the people who can really influence young people – coaches, parents, teachers – asked the questions? Have they set themselves goals?"
Gray is refreshingly realistic about the realities of Scottish sport, conceding, for instance, that some activities will remain prohibitively expensive to all but a few. Yet he is passionate about dynamiting needless obstacles to involvement in sport.
"Affordable access is the biggest barrier," he says. "Local authorities have to balance things but have to come up with clever ways of encouraging people in. Making the experience unforgettable in a positive way has also got to be a focus and that's where coaching is so fundamental. Ask people what has put them off and sometimes it's the coach."
Gray says that Scotland, hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2014, will have two bites at the legacy cherry. "This is a unique time. My call to arms is that there will be no better chance than this period of three or four years to actually change habits and change cultures through sport."
Contextual targeting label:
