Cooke receives MBE to add to gold

'This is more of a gift, so very nice and very, very special for myself and family'

Olympic champion cyclist Nicole Cooke paid tribute to her family after receiving an MBE for services to sport.

The 26-year-old from the Vale of Glamorgan, is one of British cycling's most decorated athletes.

Her gold medal in the Olympic road race was the first of the British team's tally at Beijing last year and she ended 2008 winning the world title.

Cooke received her honour from Prince Charles at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.

She said that the honour was a new experience to winning gold.

"It's totally different, the others were hard fought it took a lot of effort to win those," Cooke added.

"This is more of a gift, so very nice and very, very special for myself and family who have really helped me achieve my success."

Others receiving honours included veteran actor Christopher Lee and singer Joe Brown.