AS Yorkshire's Olympic gold medalists crossed their respective finishing lines in Beijing this summer, a whole new generation of heroes was born.

And at one fell swoop the grumbling and negativity surrounding the 2012 Games, to be held in London at a projected cost of £9.3bn, evaporated.

Now though the challenge will be to sustain the nation's collective goodwill for the Olympics, while ensuring that the once-in-a-generation chance to host it is exploited to bring benefits all over the country.

While Yorkshire may not be an obvious beneficiary of the next Games, a team has been steadily assembling since London won the battle to host it in July 2005 to maximise the opportunities for the region.

And, much like a 400m runner about to turn the last bend, now that Beijing is safely out of the way, officials in Yorkshire can ramp their activities up a gear as they attempt to achieve a suitable legacy for the region.

Of course, it could all still go wrong. Funding for transport infrastructure is heading to London rather than coming to Yorkshire, and many of the region's builders will be commandeered for the development of the Olympic village, threatening local housebuilding targets.

But officials behind Team Yorkshire are determined to make the most of the opportunities available to deliver that legacy, setting themselves five major challenges.

Deemed "golden opportunities", these are: putting sport centre stage, building healthy and cohesive communities, creating a carnival of culture, enhancing Yorkshire's profile and tourism potential, and winning Olympic contracts for the region's businesses.

Co-ordinating the strategy is Martin Havenhand, the former chief executive of Yorkshire Forward who is now executive chairman of the Yorkshire Committee for the Olympic Games and sits as the representative for this region on Locog – the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games.

It is Mr Havenhand who is responsible for securing this region's legacy, and he who will be judged at various points throughout the next eight years on whether Yorkshire is making the most of the opportunities presented.

"Whether people wanted the Olympic Games or not, we've now got it and it's our job to make the most of it," he said. "My role is to make sure we exploit it as much as possible to bring benefits to Yorkshire."

The first step is to persuade prestigious nations to use Yorkshire as their training camp in the years leading up to, and especially the months before, the 2012 Games.

Yorkshire will be split into three areas based on emerging political boundaries – the Leeds city region, including West and North Yorkshire, Sheffield city region, including South Yorkshire and parts of Derbyshire, and Hull city region, including East Yorkshire and parts of Lincolnshire.

Leeds has set out its stall: it wishes to attract teams strong in diving, swimming and gymnastics and can also offer good outdoor cycling and triathlon facilities. It hopes to bring China in along with Russia and South American nations.

Sheffield regularly hosts international sporting tournaments and is strong in diving, volleyball, table tennis, boxing and handball. It is working with Canada and Brazil, in discussion with China and Cuba, and has strong sporting links with Saudi Arabia and Germany to exploit.

Hull, while still in the starting blocks in the race to attract international training camps, is likely to concentrate its focus on West African nations as well as Barbados and Mauritius, countries it established links to during last year's Wilberforce celebrations.

Mr Havenhand said there would be lots of competition to host the prestigious nations but expected the region to attract "a handful" of larger countries. He said that Melbourne generated about £6m from hosting Team GB ahead of the 2000 Olympic Games, mostly from hotel bookings.

Away from economics, benefits from the Games will come from motivating Britons to engage in physical activity and culture.

Nigel Harrison, the director of West Yorkshire Sport, has the role of ensuring tens of thousands more young people become involved in sport between now and the Olympics.

There will be a drive to get more people, both young and old, to play for sports clubs within communities, rather than just playing at school. Those aged 16 to 18 will be encouraged to volunteer at their sports clubs.

More people will be encouraged to take up coaching and nine competition managers will be sent into schools to encourage them to take up competitive sports – a scheme being actively encouraged by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Tournaments, festivals and activities will be organised in 2011 and 2012 to get people in the mood for the Olympics, and more people with disabilities will be encouraged to take up Paralympic sports in a new programme, Playground to Podium.

Olympic medal winners will be sent into schools to inspire the next generation, and champions from all sports and all ages will be encouraged to take part in the scheme, even 15 and 16-year-old champions will be encouraged to go into primary schools.

Perhaps most innovatively, a "star scheme" is to be introduced to give talented athletes support. Anyone from West Yorkshire who is in a national squad will gain free access to all local authority leisure facilities, and talks are on-going with Metro to give them free access to public transport. Sponsorship opportunities may also arise.

"We want to increase participation in sport by one per cent a year among adults and, within two years, want 85 per cent of young people to be doing at least five hours of sport a week," said Mr Harrison.

"We want more athletes competing in the regional and national squad. We basically want to ramp up the sports participation in West Yorkshire at all levels, and cash in on the magic of the Olympic Games."

Tessa Gordziejko is co-ordinating Yorkshire's Cultural Olympiad, a programme of events starting next spring and leading straight through to
the 2012 Games.

She said the theme for the region's activities would be that of the moving body: tying in dance, sculpture and anything else that gives "a greater sense of the physical self".

"It will be primarily cultural but also blend learning and sport to break down the barriers of art and sports. In performance, we see it in terms of encouraging people to move around," said Ms Gordziejko.

She said that the Cultural Olympiad would make the most of Yorkshire's heritage and landscape, would help bind communities together and investigate their sense of belonging. A series of events will run for each of the next four years, with a particular emphasis on young people, and along with traditional culture, is likely to include events such as parkour free-running and street art.

Mr Havenhand said sporting and cultural programmes would be rolled out as soon as possible to harness the goodwill generated from Beijing.

He said: "There is a worry that if we're not careful the euphoria from the Beijing Olympics will start to peter out. To sustain the momentum we need to keep things in the public eye.

"The feeling is we can use the last Olympics to inspire people to want to do something better, to harness the inspiration that top athletes can give us.

"That can be anything – even a fish and chips shop worker going the extra mile to provide the best fish and chips that he or she can. It's about striving to do something better than everyone else, whether that be an individual or a company looking to maximise profits."

But, as with any Olympic event, after the striving comes the judging. That will first come in 2010, if Team Yorkshire has failed to sign up prestigious countries to take part in training camps, and if few businesses have signed up to the official website for tendering for Olympic contracts, www.competefor.com.

Then in 2012 the region will be judged on the quality of its Cultural Olympiad, on how many young people have signed up to sports clubs, and how many are volunteering at the London Games.

By 2014 a clearer picture will have emerged of whether Yorkshire has gained the required tourism spend as a result of its Olympic exposure.

Finally in 2017, a decade on from the launch of the Yorkshire Gold strategy, the team will be judged on the big question – has this region secured its Olympic legacy.

And as Team Yorkshire knows, those that do not finish on the podium, no matter how hard they have striven, tend to be seen as failures.