Knighthood and honours for Rio equestrian stars in New Year list
Five Paralympic and Olympic riders have been included in the 2017 New Year’s Honours list.
The dressage world has dominated the equestrian contingent, boasting four riders who will be recognised for services to equestrianism.
Topping the list with a knighthood is Lee Pearson, the most decorated para-equestrian of all time.
He has won 11 Paralympic gold medals, ridden at five Paralympic Games and also has 14 World and five European championship titles.
In 2011, he fell and broke his back during training and recovered to continue winning at the top of the sport, including individual gold and silver in Rio.
Reigning Olympic dressage champion Charlotte Dujardin, eight-time Paralympic gold medallist Sophie Christiansen and individual Olympic showjumping gold medallist Nick Skelton will all be awarded CBEs.
Multiple Paralympic, World and European medal-winning para-dressage rider Anne Dunham has been made an OBE and sports broadcaster Jonathan Agnew, who swapped cricked for commentating at the equestrian Olympic events in Rio, will receive an MBE.
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All the riders have received honours before and this is also the second prestigious recognition in as many weeks for Nick and Sophie, who came third and fifth respectively in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards on 18 December.
Inspirational former event rider Claire Lomas has also been made an MBE for charitable and voluntary services to spinal injury research. Claire, who was paralysed from the chest down in a cross-country fall in 2007, has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for charity by taking on challenges.
These have included hand-cycling around England and using a robotic suit to walk the London Marathon, Great North Run and Vitality London 10000 routes.
Members of the racing world who will receive honours include former jockey and retired general manager of Perth racecourse Sam Morshead, trainer and founder of the Borders MS [multiple sclerosis] Racing Club Rhona Elliot, Dr Robert Welby Henry, trainer John Gosden and Timothy Adams.
Related articles:
- Lee Pearson claims individual silver
- 11 emotional moments caught on camera in 2016
- Nick Skelton third and Sophie Christian fifth in SPOTY
Awards for sport make up 14% of the 1,197 honours being given out, while women make up just over half of the total and 8.5% of the people on the honours list consider themselves to have a disability.
Other members of Team GB who are receiving honours include Andy Murray and Mo Farah, both of whom will receive knighthoods, as well as Katherine Grainger and Jessica Ennis-Hill, who will receive damehoods.
Jason Kenny, Laura Kenny, Max Whitlock, Ellie Robinson, Helen Richardson Walsh and Kate Richardson Walsh are also among the British Rio Olympic and Paralympic sporting stars on the list.
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Lucy is an experienced news journalist, reporter and presenter. Since joining the Horse & Hound team in 2015, Lucy has reported from major global sporting events including the Tokyo Paralympic Games and multiple European Championships, as well as Badminton, Burghley and London, to name a few. She has covered current affairs and sports news across the full spectrum of equestrian disciplines and racing, as well as human and equine welfare, industry news and court cases.