Rower Sir Steve Redgrave, who won Olympic gold medals at five consecutive games between 1984 and 2000, talked to youngsters at All Hallows RC Business Enterprise and Sports College about the importance of keeping fit and healthy.
He gave a motivational speech to hundreds of students of the Weaste Lane school during an assembly.
Sir Steve, one of only four people in history to have won five consecutive Olympic gold medals, visited All Hallows in his role as ambassador for Matalan Sporting Promise, which is working with the Youth Sport Trust to promote healthy activities in schools.
Sir Steve, who was instrumental in bringing the Olympics to London in 2012, said: "I'm passionate about health, fitness, sport and sport at the highest level, but this programme is not about finding the next Olympic champion, we're trying to create more interest in doing activities.
"I say 'activities' instead of 'sports' because sometimes people can be switched off by the competitive side of sport.
"The reason we are doing this is because schools need a big helping hand. Sport has a unique ability to transform young lives and that is why I am so delighted to be able to support the Matalan Sporting Promise programme."
The campaign offers sports training to primary school teachers and will reach 3,000 primary schools by the end of the year.
It also concentrates on secondary schools and young people who may not want to take up traditional mainstream sports - offering alternative activities like Parkour, Street Cheer and Jump Rope.
Monica Owens, headteacher at All Hallows, said the programme was 'a brilliant resource for teachers and pupils'.
She added: "It has been really exciting to have Sir Steve here today to show his support." Tweet
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It is nice to see people who have been very successful in sport encouraging the children to take up activities, Its a pitty the school didn`t feel that all children in the school are worthy of joining in the activities or the talk with Sir Steve Redgrave!! If they were not in full uniform, they had to sit in a classroom away from all the important people that were in school that day and write lines:- If i want to represent school i must wear full uniform! It didn`t matter if the child had lost a part of their uniform or had it stolen from school, they were not allowed any where near!! So much for all children being treated equally and not being discriminated against!