Britain's new year 'Honour list' acknowledges distinguished Olympic athletes

Steve Cram, Mary Peters and Wendy Sly, three distinguished Olympic track and field athletes, have been recognised in Britain's New Year Honours list.

Cram, former Olympic silver medalist, world 1500m champion and multi-world record breaker, is made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in recognition of his work as chair of the English Institute of Sport (EIS).

Peters, Olympic pentathlon champion in 1972, received a 'damehood' in 2000 and has now been given the rare accolade of being made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour, for her services to sport and the community in Northern Ireland.

Thirty years after winning a silver in the Los Angeles Olympics, Sly is recognised for her services to athletics by being made a Member of the British Empire (MBE).

Other British sports personalities to be honoured include two of England's World Cup-winning women's rugby team, vice-captain Sarah Hunter and prop Rochelle Clark, who become MBEs.

Brendon Batson, a pioneering black footballer for West Bromwich Albion in the 1970s, who went on to a distinguished administrative career in the Professional Footballers' Association, also becomes an MBE.