YOUNGSTERS at a York primary school got to hear the inspirational life story of an amazing world champion athlete.

Five times power-lifting world champion Rich Willis dropped in on pupils at Robert Wilkinson Primary Academy in Strensall yesterday as part of a Sport Relief assembly. (Friday)

Rich, 50, is a disabled athlete who has diastrophic dwarfism and at just 3 feet 8 inches tall competes against able bodied athletes in the sport of powerlifting.

He lives in East Yorkshire and holds 12 world records .

He said: “I weigh 50kg and can Benchpress 130kg and I put this into perspective for them by explaining that it’s equivalent to lifting a new born baby elephant with two five year olds sat on top - the equivalent of about 21 stone.”

Rich has had more than 50 operations to treat his joints - a result of being born with diastrophic dwarfism and says his daughter, Cherry, inspired him to take up power lifting.

He said: “He were watching the Paralympics in 2016 in Rio.

“She saw a lady with dwarfism doing powerlifting and she says, ‘Daddy do you think you do that?’

“And at the time I had come out from a lot of surgeries on my legs and I was on a heavy regime of opiate based medicines and I thought: ‘Well that’s going to be the kick I need to do something positive’.

“So I got in touch with a few gyms and that was it - I’ve been doing it ever since.”

Teacher Chris Evans said: “Sport Relief raises so much money and our contribution of over £600 will go some way to helping their fabulous causes. As part of our day we had a visit from the Bishop of Lancaster, Rev Dr Jill Duff, who shared with us how God had helped her grow in so many ways and Rich’s story is a fantastically inspirational tale of overcoming challenge, coping with disability and discrimination by using his skills of resilience, hard work and determination. He also recognised that accepting help from other people is also really important and that it is teamwork too that often helps people to reach their potential.”

In addition to a whole school assembly, he also visited Years 1,2 and 4 to meet them more personally.