London 2012 hero’s to receive awards with unique honours list

GB will see some of its athletes be rewarded on an exclusive honours list next month...

It was revealed on Thursday that some of Britain’s Olympic and Paralympic hero’s will be rewarded on a special honours list, rather than be included in the New Year’s Honours List, which acknowledges various categories including sport.

The one-off list has been devised to mark the huge achievements made by GB athletes during London 2012 games, and next month stars such as Jessica Ennis, Bradley Wiggins, Mo Farah and Ellie Simmonds are among those expected to be honoured.

With team GB gaining a credible 29 gold medals in the Olympics and the Paralympic team having 31 gold’s so far, PM David Cameron has decided to top the usual process of giving awards. 

Normal rules dictate one knighthood for a sports person, with four CBEs, 68 OBEs and 134 MBEs, with the Whitehall committee being responsible for the honours list.

A source from No.10 told The Sun: “The problem of how to recognise as many of them as possible was one we identified almost immediately. An honours list of their own is how to solve it.”

It is understood the Queen has nodded towards commending London 2012 GB sports stars, and that ministers also want to honour a selection of volunteers from the Games - as their efforts have not gone unnoticed throughout the events.

Paralympic GB are second in the medal table with a whopping 108 medals as of Friday morning – beating their target of 103 medals and topping the medal score achieved at Beijing in 2008.

China remains in the top spot with 183 medals and Russia have reclaimed third position with 85 medals.