A Guiseley man who has trained Olympic gold medal athletes has won a top award for a lifetime of coaching young sports men and women.

At a ceremony at London's Caf Royal in front of 300 people, Wilf Paish was entered into the Coaching Hall of Fame when he was presented with the Sam Muussabini Medal for services to coaching.

Former Olympic sports coach, Mr Paish, 71, has spent 50 years training young people in athletics, cricket, football and rugby.

He has worked with Olympians Tessa Sanderson, Peter Elliott and Mick Hill and has been behind the development of more than 100 top athletes from across Yorkshire.

He has also helped Keighley RLFC, Halifax RLFC, Leeds United AFC and Yorkshire Cricket win prestigious national awards. Mr Paish, who although retired and on the waiting list for a kidney transplant, still spends up to 40 hours every week training young athletes at the Leeds Metropolitan University and at Thornes Park, Wakefield.

And in recognition of his contribution to the world of sport, Mr Paish was presented with the highest award attainable at the Caf Royal on Wednesday last week.

He said: "I'm delighted, it is the greatest award one can receive in the professional field.

"Most people would say it was long overdue, but I have always been pretty outspoken on my views of sport."

Mr Paish was presented with the Muussabini Medal at the Coaching Hall of Fame and UK Coach of the Year award ceremony by Richard Caborn MP, minister for sport.

His first love is track and field events and it is in this area that he trained some of the country's most well known Olympians, Tessa Sanderson and Peter Elliott.

He withdrew from the national structure and went freelance, moving into football, rugby and cricket. Married with two daughters and twin grandchildren, Mr Paish moved to Guiseley in 1980 just before the 1980 Olympic Games.

In 1996 he was headhunted by the South African Olympic Team and spent three years in the country helping to train its team.

He later returned to Guiseley where despite having only one kidney, which works at just 10 per cent capacity, still puts in 40 hours every week training young athletes and sports people.

"I had every intention to retire when I came back, but then a grandmother who I'd trained asked me to train her grandchild. I've coached three generations in my time, how could I give up," he said.

Up until the age of 65, Mr Paish was still running 50 miles every week, but after training in the seriously hot South African climate, he damaged his kidneys.

But he has no intention of letting his health affect his coaching.

"I've a wonderful squad of youngsters based at Leeds Metropolitan University and at Wakefield," he added.