IF Lord Coe's vision becomes a reality, then in a few years you will barely be able to walk through a park or field in Scotland without bumping into kids trying to emulate their sporting heroes.

Coe, chairman of the London 2012 Olympic Games, was in Scotland yesterday to meet young athletes ahead of the International Children’s Games taking place this week in Lanarkshire, and to check on the progress being made in Glasgow ahead of the Commonwealth Games in 2014.

Mass participation in the likes of cycling, ice skating, field hockey, and track and field events tends to last for the length of a major event before quickly fading, but Coe believes the unique situation of having the Olympics and Commonwealth Games in the UK just two years apart should help sustain interest in so-called minority sports for a greater period of time. Having successful role models to look up to will play its part, too, as Coe reveals from personal experience.

“If you go back to the Commonwealth Games of Edinburgh in 1970 that was an extraordinary opportunity,” he enthused amid the hubbub of Glasgow’s Central Station. “You had Ian Stewart, Lachie Stewart and Rosemary Stirling – a whole host of great athletes that, on domestic soil, inspired a whole generation, not just in Scotland but beyond. Ian Stewart, in fact, was someone who inspired me to take up track and field.

“So it’s important that we see the Commonwealth Games of 2014 as a unique stepping stone following London 2012. You have to go back to the 1970s to find the last time the Olympics and Commonwealth Games were delivered on the same shores within two years.

“This is the best time to target young people. My gut instinct, and I’ve been involved in sport for coming up for 40 years now, is that the greatest driver of sports participation are the events like the Olympic and Commonwealth Games. Show me the well-stocked shop window, show me the role models like Chris Hoy and I’ll show you thousands of kids that want to take up cycling.”

Joining Coe in Glasgow ahead of the opening ceremony of the International Children’s Games were the 78 athletes of Team Lanarkshire. The two-time Olympic gold medallist believes bringing the event to Scotland was a real coup.

“Sport is at its most useful in areas where there are economic and social challenges,” he added. “It’s the hidden social worker. You get more people involved and joining local sports clubs, and they get the incentive to do that because a local community is prepared to host an international event like this. It’s an event recognised by the International Olympic Committee that started 40 years ago with a handful of countries and athletes. Now you’ve got 80 countries and thousands of athletes who have been through the process.

“It’s great for Lanarkshire and fantastic for local, young, aspiring athletes as it allows them to understand the nature of international competition in their formative years. People like Allan Wells will tell you that the most crucial asset you take to a major championship is experience gained carefully in international competition. And so this is a very important milestone for these young athletes.”

Only on the contentious subject of Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish footballers playing for a British team in next summer’s Olympics did Coe clam up. “I’ve no real view on it. It’s really up to the British Olympic Association and the four very independent home associations to decide what they want to take out of the tournament.

“We will deliver a tournament. It’s up to those organisations to decide what shape that takes. It’s not an issue that the organisation committee takes a view on.”

interview The chairman of the London Olympics remembers being inspired by Scottish success in Edinburgh in 1970, writes Graeme Macpherson