By Damian Spellman, PA Sport

Olympic champion Jonathan Edwards is predicting that Great Britain's medal haul in Sydney will provide the inspiration for a new generation of home-grown champions.

The 34-year-old triple jumper returned from Australia to a hero's welcome on Thursday, and while he fully intends to continue to compete at the highest level, he is hoping that his success and that of his team-mates will prove the catalyst for even bigger things.

"I think it will, without question," he said. "Athletics particularly was stuck in the doldrums for four or five years.

"It's just started to pick up over the last year or so, and it was crucial for the development of the sport for the team to be successful in Sydney.

"I think it's going to make a huge difference in terms of the money that the sport wants to get in order to set up programmes to improve grass roots participation.

"The fact that we've done so well in Sydney will make that case very strong."

Edwards believes the team spirit fostered in the Great Britain training camp on the Gold Coast was a major factor in an improved performance on Atlanta four years ago, and he paid tribute to the role of the British Olympic Association (BOA) in aiding the preparations of its competitors.

"There was a great sense of team camaraderie amongst all the sports," he said. "We stayed together in Brisbane and we all got to know each other.

"The BOA did a fantastic job to give the athletes the best possible conditions to prepare in and it was wonderful.

"We saw Jason Queally win the first gold and then it just went on from there. I don't think anyone could quite believe it, because after Atlanta, it was all doom and gloom and we were terrible.

"It was just lovely to be part of a successful team. I think everybody has appreciated that and in a very real sense, we were drawn together."

World record holder Edwards has seen and done it all in athletics in a distinguished career which has brought him domestic, European and world titles, but he admits even he was not prepared for the atmosphere on his big night in Sydney.

The Gateshead Harrier leapt to glory on the same day that local heroine Cathy Freeman blasted her way to the women's 400 metres title, an achievement which went far beyond the realms of sport.

"The Cathy Freeman race was just awesome, really breathtaking," he said. "As much as it would have been nice to see Katharine Merry or Donna Fraser win, I think, in my heart of hearts, I hoped Cathy Freeman would win.

"The games had really been set up for Ian Thorpe to do well in week one and Cathy Freeman to do well in week two, and it was not quite a finale but a fitting climax to the athletics to see Cathy win.

"When she got her medal, the whole stadium sang the national anthem and then they started singing 'Cathy, Cathy'. It was absolutely awesome.

"Many people have watched athletics all their lives and that was the greatest night of athletics they'd ever witnessed, and it was a privilege to be part of it."

Athletics will now take a lower priority for Edwards, but he is not about to call it a day just yet.

"I'm going to come down and do a little session on Friday and then go and jump at the Grand Prix Final next week in Qatar," he said.

"We're going to take time out to have a bit of a holiday and to enjoy this. I might train for one day and then have a day off - I might have a week off and then train for a couple of days, who knows?"