[ad_1]
To Britain’s most decorated sporting couple went another level of distinction last night.
To the footballers who took England to the final at the European Championship, further recognition will need to be found outside of the New Year’s honours list.
As tends to be the way in Olympic and Paralympic years, it is from those pursuits that the majority of recipients have been sourced, with the sporting list of 99 led by Laura and Jason Kenny, the married cyclists of Team GB who have been elevated to Dame and Sir.
Married Team GB cyclists Jason (left) and Laura (right) Kenny have been made Sir and Dame
That follows their latest successes on the biggest stage, with Jason, 33, claiming his seventh Olympic gold in the keirin at the Games in Tokyo, and Laura, 29, her fifth via the madison.
In addition to achieving their aim for 2021 of building a clock out of Olympic gold medals, they are now the first husband and wife to gain knighthoods and damehoods in the same list.
In a joint statement, the couple said: ‘To be included on the New Year’s honours list alongside such esteemed company is something we are both so very humbled by and also very proud of.
‘We have both been very lucky to be able to do a job we both love and there is a whole team of people behind us that make it possible for us to compete at the highest level. We are grateful and thankful to all of them.’
The couple are the first husband and wife to gain knighthoods and damehoods in the same list
While the merits of handing titles to active athletes is open to some debate, there is little quibbling to be had with this latest layer of recognition for cyclists who individually rank as the first and fourth most successful British Olympians of all time. As a sporting pairing they are without precedent in this country.
If the Kennys have been toasted for the continuation of a remarkable body of work, the year’s most startling individual conquest was also recognised in the form of an…
[ad_2]
Source : dailymail
