Jo Pavey and Casey Stoney on Queen's Birthday Honours List
Friday 12 June 2015 23:21, UK
Britain's surprise European 10,000m champion Jo Pavey and 118-cap England footballer Casey Stoney are among the top sportswomen on the Queen's Birthday Honours List.
Pavey and Arsenal Ladies and England captain Stoney both get MBEs for their services to their respective sports.
The 41-year-old athlete said getting the award completes a "surreal" year of success and admitted she is "absolutely thrilled" with the honour.
Pavey became the oldest woman in history to claim gold at the European Championships in Zurich last year when she won at the age of 40 years and 325 days.
The victory was the Devonshire runner's first major championship gold and came only 11 months after she had given birth to her second child.
Pavey's MBE adds another highlight to a remarkable 12 months that has also seen her win bronze at the Commonwealth Games and voted third in the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year Award.
"It's a huge honour for me and I'm absolutely thrilled," said Pavey. "I never thought I'd finally achieve a gold medal and it's crazy that after all those years running I finally achieved my goal when I was a busy mum.
"Everything has been a big surprise and to get something like an MBE is just another surprise - it's all so surreal.
"I'm so excited to go to the ceremony, it'll be certainly be nerve-wracking but to meet the Queen will be another huge moment for me."
Pavey has chosen to sit out the Beijing World Championships in August to spend time with her family before she focuses on qualification for next year's Olympics in Rio.
Stoney joined Chelsea at the age of 12, winning honours with several clubs before rejoining the Gunners for the 2014 season as captain. By that time she had been appointed England captain in 2012.
Other women from the world of sport honoured, include UK Sport chief executive Liz Nicholl (CBE) and Alison Harris (MBE) for services to the British Horse Society and to equestrian sport in Yorkshire.
Wheelchair tennis player Jordanne Whiley, who at 14 became Britain’s youngest national women’s singles champion in 2007, also gets an MBE.
