A double Olympic gold medallist paid a surprise visit to a school in Bushey to reward budding athletes and discuss his own, often unsuccessful, sporting childhood.

Steve Williams, the English winner of the coxless four rowing contests at the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games was bombarded with an endless supply of questions shortly after walking through the doors of Immanuel College.

Regardless of his recent success, Mr Williams said getting to the stage he was at had been hard work at times and urged struggling students not to give up.

He said: “I either came last or second from last in the weekly cross country run. I always dreaded that afternoon.”

Answering a question about whether he ever feels like skipping training, he said: “I hate some parts of training but I know that if I just roll up and have a duvet day I wouldn't achieve anything.”

He said the chance of representing his country and winning a gold medal was what got him out of bed in the morning and got him through “lonely training sessions in the water with no cameras or support”.

Speaking of his first trip to the Olympic games in Sydney in 2000, he spoke of the pain of seeing his team from the sidelines.

He said: “As many of you will know that's a horrible job to do but it toughened me up and I learnt a lot.”

Mr Williams, 32, presented trophies, medals and certificates to dozens of pupils for their achievements in the Elstree Road school's mini Olympics, dance competitions and the inter-school Maccabi competitions.

After the presentation he said: “It's been a great morning. One of the great privileges of winning a gold medal is coming to schools and speaking to kids about how exciting what we have been through is.”