London Olympics Heroes Honoured in Queen's 2013 New Year Honours

London's Olympic champions on 29 December 2012 had been generously rewarded for their exploits in a special New Year Honours list, with Bradley Wiggins and Ben Ainslie receiving knighthoods.

Bradley Wiggins with his historic Tour de France triumph is the first British cyclist to be awarded with the honors. He had won a fourth Olympic gold medal and first on the road. On the other hand Ben Ainslie became the most successful Olympic sailor of all time with his fourth successive gold.

Along with Bradley Wiggins and Ben Ainslie, inspiring British Cycling performance director Dave Brailsford is also knighted as he once again masterminded a stunning medal haul as well as leading Team Sky to a one-two in the Tour de France.

The fourth knighthood went to David Tanner, the performance director for British Rowing, who also overseen a record medal pull as Britain's rowers won four golds and nine medals in all.

Four Olympic stars are made CBEs, including the king and queen of British athletics, Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis, after they lit up the Olympic Stadium.

London was the a final performance or effort for cyclist Victoria Pendleton, who added a second Olympic gold and is made a CBE after playing a trailblazing role for women sprinters on the track.

Rower Katherine Grainger receives the same honour in the year she finally made it gold with Anna Watkins in the double sculls following three successive silvers.

Three of Britain's double gold medallists have been awarded OBEs - dressage star Charlotte Dujardin and cycling couple Jason Kenny and Laura Trott - along with tennis' Andy Murray, who was both a gold medallist and a grand slam winner in 2012.

Long jumper Greg Rutherford, another gold medal winner in the Olympic Stadium on that Super Saturday, has been given an MBE. Also honoured with MBEs are 51-year-old three-day eventer Mary King, who won team silver in London, and gymnast Louis Smith, now a three-time Olympic medalist.

About New Year Honour

The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, where New Year's Day, 1 January, is marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth Realms also mark this day in this way.

The awards are presented by or in the name of the reigning monarch British honours are published in supplements to the London Gazette.
Honours have been awarded at New Year since at least 1890, in which year a list of Queen Victoria's awards was published by the London Gazette on 2 January.