Wilf Paish

In more than five decades of coaching, he went to nine Olympic Games, eight as part of Great Britain squad from 1964 to 1992, and finally as coach to the South Africa team in Atlanta in 1996.

He guided Tessa Sanderson to an Olympic javelin title in Los Angeles in 1984 when she prevailed over her great rival Fatima Whitbread, the reigning world champion.

Four years later, he coached Rotherham-born Peter Elliott to a silver medal in the 1,500 metres in Seoul.

Mr Paish also taught javelin thrower Mick Hill, a stalwart of Great Britain athletics for many years, but his legacy is about so much more than big- name stars.

From his base at the Carnegie Sports Centre in Leeds, he taught all-comers the finer points of track and field, be it a university student wanting to learn the art of middle-distance running or a junior picking up a shot put for the first time.

Mr Paish was highly regarded for his knowledge of the sport, his enthusiasm and his unselfishness.

When top-class athletes tried to pay him to spend more time with them, he refused, mindful of the other not so glamorous names under his tutelage.

In many respects, he was ahead of his time on coaching practices and nutrition. He was also a respected writer and a broadcaster.

Away from his first love of athletics, Mr Paish was well-respected in the world of rugby league, football and cricket thanks to the fitness and sprint sessions he conducted with some of Yorkshire's leading clubs. In 2005, he was made an MBE for his services to sport.

When not coaching, he was a teacher in Essex and Slough where he met Margaret, his wife of 52 years, before moving to Leeds in 1964 when he was appointed national athletics coach for the north of England.

He retired from international coaching in 1996 but was still coaching youngsters two weeks before his death yesterday morning.

He used his state pension to enable him to teach young athletes on a voluntary basis at the Carnegie Sports Centre and could be seen there two to three times a week, his enthusiasm still self-evident to all those he helped to inspire in his latter years.

Mr Paish was a prolific writer of coaching manuals, books and articles, and was always keen to debate theories on training practices, sports science and nutrition.

His career was not without controversy.

He upset the athletics establishment with his views on performance-enhancing drugs and his willingness to make those opinions heard.

Having spent much of his career coaching clean British power-performers to compete against eastern Europeans aided by a cocktail of steroids and hormones, Mr Paish eventually suggested there was no point in British athletes being drug free if their opponents were not.

After such distinguished service for British sport, he had earned the right to have his opinion.

His finest hour came in the Los Angeles Coliseum 26 years ago with Sanderson's surprise gold medal.

Mr Paish was born in Gloucestershire on July 29, 1932. He was raised in Stow on the Wold and attended Northleach Grammar School.

He trained to be a teacher at Borough Road College in London and furthered his education at the Carnegie College of Physical Education in Leeds – the precursor to Leeds Met.

Mr Paish died of pancreatitis and kidney failure. He is survived by his wife Margaret, their two daughters and twin granddaughters.