By IANS,
London : Cyclist Chris Hoy, the first British athlete for 100 years to win three gold medals at the same Olympics Games, has been awarded Knighthood.
It is a double celebration for the 32-year-old Olympic cycling champion. His mother Carol, a recently retired nurse in Glasgow, has received the Member of the British Empire (MBE) for services to health care. They will go to Buckingham Palace together to receive their awards.
Eleanor Simmons, who was just 13 when she won two Paralympic gold medals for swimming in Beijing, receives the MBE the youngest person ever to be given an honour. Simmons, from Swansea, who was born with dwarfism, was Britain’s youngest ever individual Paralympics gold medallist.
Other Olympians to receive honours include swimmer Rebecca Adlington, 19, from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. The teenager captured the hearts of the British public after winning two golds in the 400m freestyle and 800m freestyle events in Beijing Olympics – and now gets an OBE. She is the most successful British Olympic swimmer in 100 years.
Lewis Hamilton, the first Briton to win the Formula One championship since Damon Hill in 1996, receives an MBE. Jenny Abramsky, who stepped down as the BBC’s director of radio and music this year, is made a Dame.