"It's one thing winning the medal, that's great, but I think some of the other things I've been able to experience because of this have been enriching as much as completing that original goal," says Jamie Staff, 2008 Beijing Gold medal winner for the UK.
"It changed my life," he reflected on the tail end of a whirlwind trip to the West Bank.
With the gold medal in his pocket, Staff arrived in the West Bank as part of London's Cultural Olympiad, in events celebrating 500 days to the opening of the Summer Games.
"Sports for all, that's what its about, creating opportunities," the athlete-turned-coach said of a series of bike races hosted by the British Consulate and the Siraj Foundation in Nablus, Hebron, Ramallah and Jericho.
"The kids just bring their bikes; it's a pretty accessible sport," he said. The consulate provided the helmets.
Staff met with winners after the Jericho finals, giving them pointers on bike maintenance, taking corners and streamlining.
"There's no reason that some of those kids, given certain instruments, that they can't perform some day. I'm definitely going to go home, speak to some people in the industry, and say, 'Hey, can you send a few bikes that way?' and see what happens," he said after a tour of Bethlehem's Dar Al-Kelima center.
"We are made poor, our kids are not starving, what our children need is life, life abundantly," Health and Wellness Center director Rami Kahder told Staff.
The center hosts football and swimming classes for 120 kids, supported by the UK-based Palestine Association for Children's Encouragement of Sports. Players from the intermediate girls team got to meet Staff and, after showing off their skills, gathered in for a look at the gold medal.
"It's heavy, feel it," murmured the first young woman to take hold of the medal.
"I get huge pleasure in that, in going to schools and saying 'I was like you, just an average kid.' But then I found a passion. And I say, it doesn't have to be sport, it can be anything. Just find what your passion is, find what you can't live without and that's when you put your heart and soul into something and you're successful at it."
The girls team was impressed. There were no hangers-back and each player in turn took the medal in their hands, examining its weight.
"No matter what now happens in my life, I've got that. I downplay it sometimes, but it is an amazing achievement, and I now want to go on and change other people's lives through what I have achieved, and you get a certain amount of recognition, so you can do that."
"If you can change just one kid's outlook on life with this then its worth it ... it's a powerful tool."
Beat out by the Thai and Iranian teams, the Palestinian men's and women's Olympic football teams will not be representing the nation in 2012, but other hopefuls in swimming, and in the paralympic track and field events, still hope to travel to London.
A lot more than hope for personal achievements rests on their shoulders. Staff gives a tip, saying that "from an athletic point of view you have to remain focused, you have to focus on the task at hand, and when you can do that well, then the medal comes."
It is more than medals for PACES coaches, however.
The Olympic sport is also a universal language for Palestinians to communicate with others, says PACES coach Rim. "It's a language that everyone understands, so it's not just about playing a game, but about changing the way Palestinians are seen around the world. We want to show what we can do despite borders and occupations and walls."
Staff got the message: "Especially in nations like this, if ever someone, even at a paralympic level, can earn a medal, that can be so influential. When it seems like a reality, when you can see or touch something.
When I can explain to these kids that I'm not special, I just have a passion for something and you can do it too. And if they say 'I can't' then you say 'Why not?' and 'You can'."
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