Spirit of 2012 can inspire new wave

London Paralympics were the best 10 days of my sporting life – now the class of 2017 can channel that energy

The British public has not forgotten London 2012 and for me that is reflected in the quarter of a million tickets sold for these championships, which I believe will be the greatest para athletics event ever.

There is a new, ambitious generation coming through, and Britain still leads the world, thanks to an amazing funding system which has transformed the level of our athletes. It also helps when you see people like Prince Harry encouraging everyone to show their support for the world’s best para athletes, too.

We will never be bigger or better than China, they just have too many athletes to contend with – and 80 million disabled people – but we have something special in this country, and we should celebrate that.

London 2012 made me a hero with so many people. It is flattering to be stopped on a daily basis, but it shows just how powerful the Games were here five years ago. Racing in that stadium in 2012 was indescribable. Hearing thousands of people screaming my name is something I will never forget.

But many times I have regretted coming back to race in this stadium, where I have not performed well since 2012, and I recently decided my time was done in track racing.

You often hear boxers saying that they had their Everest moment – Ricky Hatton against Kostya Tszyu in 2005, Tyson Fury against Wladimir Klitschko in 2015, and maybe London 2012 was mine. I’ve always raced with the aggressive mentality of being a fighter – my brothers boxed and I would have loved to as well – but I knew my time was up. It will only be road and marathon racing from here for me. The mental pressure was also getting to me, so let someone else take that mantle from me, be it Richard Chiassaro or whoever, and push with the same mentality.

I took part in my last track race in the London Stadium last week, more of an exhibition race than anything, with seven members of my academy team involved. Even so, it was an emotional farewell to the place, and a chance to thank the British public for supporting Paralympic sport for years.

You don’t forget hearing such a huge crowd screaming your name

It is now time for the selectors to pick someone else who has probably never raced in a championship like this before – get the experience, enjoy the week and just embrace the amazing support we have in this country for Paralympic sport.

Competing at a World Championships is a massive learning curve. That was the reason why I felt I didn’t need to go to these championships. I didn’t have the drive I had years ago. I could have got into good shape and won a medal. But I just felt I was taking the opportunity from a younger athlete to have that chance to experience racing in a home games, possibly winning a medal but certainly experiencing that huge, noisy British crowd.

I love seeing the next generation doing well, and when I see athletes from my academy putting on the GB vest for the first time, I feel like I’ve put something back into the sport.

I remember when Mo, one of our athletes, went to Doha and won a medal. I was emotional. I was giving him a cuddle and he was like, “What are you doing?” He hasn’t seen me like that before.

My advice to all our athletes is to be patient. For me, London didn’t just happen overnight. It took years to get that level. I remember the World Championships in Lille in 2002. I was in great form that year, and then I kept coming fourth and fifth and sixth and I was thinking that I was never going to win a medal. Then I worked on it for another couple of years and went to the Athens Games and won a medal. And then I just wanted more.

Having decided to retire, I’m looking forward to analysing our young talent coming through from the commentary box for Channel 4 and in the pages of The Telegraph.

Both have long been supporters of the Paralympic movement.

This event will be the start of a great journey for many of our young athletes. London 2012 provided the most amazing 10 days of my sporting life. And for some young athletes here, that inner flame, that passion within them, is just about to be ignited.