"The Superheroes are back," yelped the PA announcer at The Olympic Stadium yesterday in a bid to ignite a nostalgic flame.
Indeed, on the track, preening himself to appear on the big screen, was Colin Murray, a tonic for those who feared he was set for obscurity since his demotion from Match of the Day 2.
In fairness, it was not the Northern Irishman that the 60,000-strong crowd had come to Stratford to see. There was Jonnie. And Hannah. And Libby. And The Weirwolf. Those Paralympic icons who went into last summer anonymously and emerged as national icons as part of a Games that sent disability sport, rather unexpectedly, into the stratosphere.
Almost a year on, many of those performers returned for the Para Challenge, the final offering of the three-day Anniversary Games. And so did the fans, most seizing an opportunity to dig out those Games Maker jerseys, Team GB caps and assorted London 2012 paraphernalia for another outing.
Few would have predicted that this fervour for ParaSport would have endured. Many doubt that it will continue, that there will be a similar clamour to come back here in 2017, when the IPC World Championship follow the IAAF's version.
"I do hope so," declared Paralympic long jump medalist Stef Reid, who came third here. "As athletes, in some sense that's part of our job. We have to stay in touch with the community. Athletes need to compete at a local level.
"I know it's now very glamorous, but we need to go to county meets, AAA Championships. Because that's where younger athletes will see us and draw their inspiration. We are fighting against football and cricket, and we've got to make this interest personal and reach out."
If London confirmed one thing, it is that success counts for a lot. UK Athletics chairman Ed Warner argues that the likes of sprinter Jonnie Peacock carries a greater name recognition than many Premiership footballers. He's probably right. There was a genuine sense of anticipation ahead of his duel with rival Richard Browne. He came off second-best, despite a personal best, with Browne setting a T44 world record of 10.75sec.
"Those rivalries help," added Warner. But time moves on and when the Diamond League meeting returns to London in 2015 during a short window of opportunity around the Rugby World Cup, there is no absolute guarantee that there will be a Paralympic adjunct.
"It depends on ticket appetite," Warner confirmed. "The Paralympic tickets sold more slowly. It took two days, rather than 75 minutes. But let's see further out. The real challenge over three days going forward will be sustaining the Paralympic interest, because apart from a Paralympic Games, there's never been a crowd like this.
"In Lyon, at the world championships last week, there were about 3000. In Birmingham, at the IPC Grand Prix, there were about 7000. So we'll see."
Those who came were certainly given value for money. There were four world records, including one in the T54 mile by David Weir. While Libby Clegg, fresh from taking double silver in Lyon, won the 100m. "We just got back last night, so it's pretty tiring," admitted the Scot. "But it's a fantastic opportunity to get back in the stadium and compete in front of a massive crowd."
Glasgow 2014 will hope that some of the fervour spills over. Unlike London, their disability sport programme is fully integrated into what we still, less comfortably, refer to as able-bodied competition. On a visit to a school in Glasgow earlier this year, Reid recounted, the questions were incessant, but it was not her artificial leg which drew most interest, more what was required to perform at the outer limits of human possibility.
And even though her specialist event has not been included in the Commonwealth schedule, Reid is determined to take her seat. "Either way, I want to be involved, as a mentor, as a commentator, bringing athletes water, whatever it takes."
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