Olympic gold medallist Eve Muirhead has been named on the Queen’s Birthday Honours list, alongside cricketer Moeen Ali and ex-footballer Rio Ferdinand.
Muirhead won curling gold at the Beijing Winter Olympics and has been made an OBE, while the rest of her team become MBEs.
Moeen and Ferdinand are both made an OBE, while Wales footballer Gareth Bale becomes an MBE.
Broadcaster Clare Balding and Tracey Crouch MP are both made CBEs.
The latest round of honours are to mark the Queen’s Jubilee Birthday celebrations to mark 70 years of service.
Former sports minister Crouch chaired a fan-led review of football following a number of high-profile crises in the sport, such as the failed European Super League and the collapse of Bury FC. Its primary recommendation to create a new independent regulator for English football has been endorsed by the government.
Balding is recognised for her ability in front of the camera and her charity work. She holds ambassadorial positions with many organisations, including StreetVet and the Helen Rollason Cancer Charity.
Simpson brothers Neil and Andrew are also included on the list of MBEs after both winning gold at the Paralympic Games.
Younger brother Neil, 19, was guided by brother Andrew, 21, to become GB’s third-ever Winter Games gold medallist and the first male to achieve the feat after successes for Kelly Gallagher in 2014 and Menna Fitzpatrick in 2018.
Muirhead’s rink defeated Japan to win Team GB’s only gold medal in Beijing. Team-mates Vicky Wright, Jen Dodds, Hailey Duff and Mili Smith become MBEs, along with coach David Murdoch.
Scot Muirhead, 32, who has appeared at four Olympics, added to the bronze she won in Sochi in 2014.
England and Worcestershire all-rounder Moeen, 34, announced his retirement from Test cricket in September 2021 but has continued to play for the limited-overs side and was part of the Twenty20 team to reach the semi-finals of last year’s World Cup.
He scored 2,914 runs and took 195 wickets in 64 Test matches, having made his debut against Sri Lanka in 2014.
Television pundit and former Manchester United, Leeds, West Ham and England defender Ferdinand is honoured for services to football and charity. He set up the Rio Ferdinand Foundation this year, which works with young people and aids community development.
Snooker players Judd Trump and Mark Selby win recognition too. Former world champion Selby has become an advocate for mental health awareness after admitting his mental health struggles in January. Trump reached the final of this year’s World Championship, losing to Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Wigan Warriors and England rugby league legend Sean O’Loughlin is also included.
Football players honoured
Others made an OBE include former England footballers Mike Summerbee and Luther Blissett, who starred for Manchester City and Watford respectively.
Wales and outgoing Real Madrid forward Bale won a joint-record fifth Champions League title on Saturday, albeit having barely featured this season. He spent last season on loan at former club Tottenham.
However, he won three La Liga titles, four Club World Cups, three Uefa Super Cups, one Copa del Rey and three Spanish Super Cups with Madrid, as well as helping Wales to two successive European Championships.
He is joined as an MBE by veteran Liverpool and former England midfielder James Milner.
In the past season Milner helped Liverpool win the FA Cup and League Cup, as well as reach the Champions League final.
Richard Bevan, the chief executive of the League Managers’ Association, has also been made an OBE while former Scotland and Hibernian goalkeeper Alan Rough is an MBE.
Paralympians and Olympians
Husband and wife Neil and Lora Fachie are MBEs after both winning Paralympic cycling gold within the space of 16 minutes.
Neil and pilot Matt Rotherham smashed their own world record to win gold in the B 1,000m time trial, before Lora and Corrine Hall successfully retained their B 3,000m pursuit crown.
Gaz Choudhry, who won Paralympic wheelchair basketball bronze and coached the team in Tokyo and Para-athlete Sammi Kinghorn, a Paralympic silver and bronze medallist, are both made MBEs.
Georgina Harland is also an MBE for her work as the first female chef de mission of the British Olympic Association for the Winter Olympics.
Swimmer Hannah Miley, who represented Britain in swimming at three Olympic Games and won the Commonwealth Games 400m individual medley titles in 2010 and 2014, has also been recognised with an MBE.
Muirhead ends wait for gold medal
Muirhead brought watching British team-mates in the Ice Cube to their feet as she scored a superb four in the seventh end to effectively clinch the Olympic title.
Her performance was the more remarkable for her having returned from hip surgery.
She described the winning moment as a “dream” after emulating the gold won by Rhona Howie’s team at Salt Lake City in 2002.
Muirhead said: “There were times during this season that I would never have thought what I managed to go on and achieve was possible.
“I am absolutely delighted to be sharing this honour with my team-mates, because without them there’s no way I could have been in this position.”
The gold medal capped an incredible 12 months for Muirhead, who led Scotland to eighth at the World Championships last year.
After that disappointment nine players were put into a squad selection process and Muirhead, Wright, Dodds, and Duff emerged. They went on to win the European Championships in December before sealing their spot in Beijing in a tense qualifier just weeks before the Games.
Muirhead added: “It just goes to show that the team around me never gives up and that you can accomplish anything if you set your mind to it.”
Moeen rewarded for career
Moeen says he ended his Test career because he found the format “really difficult to get into” and “really long” – despite having an impressive career and being promoted to vice-captain.
The left-handed batter and off-spinner hit five centuries and took five five-wicket hauls in Tests, finishing with a batting average of 28.29 and a bowling average of 36.66.
Only 15 bowlers have taken more Test wickets for England and Moeen is ranked third among English spinners, behind Derek Underwood (297) and Graeme Swann (255).
“It’s an honour to be recognised, it’s amazing and my family are really proud and happy,” he said. “More than anything, I know it makes my parents happy.”
But he acknowledged his Pakistani heritage and Muslim faith had made him an ambassador for inclusivity in the sport too.
“It’s not about runs and wickets. I think it’s more about the journey I’ve been through. It’s my background, my upbringing and all those kinds of things I’ve been through throughout my life.”
In 2017, Moeen became the fifth-fastest player in terms of matches played to reach 2,000 runs and 100 wickets, also taking a hat-trick against South Africa that year to seal a series win at The Oval.
He was part of the 2015 Ashes winning side but struggled during the 2017-18 series in Australia and took a break from cricket after being dropped during the 2019 Ashes at home.
The Queen’s Birthday Honours list for sport
Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)
Clare Victoria Balding (broadcaster), for services to sport and charity
Tracey Crouch MP (former sports minister), for parliamentary and public service
Officers of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)
Moeen Ali (cricketer), for services to cricket
Richard Harrison Bevan (chief executive of League Managers Association), for services to football
Luther Loide Blissett (ex-footballer and patron, Sporting Memories), for services to football and to charity
Lora Marie Fachie (cyclist), for services to cycling
Neil Michael Fachie (cyclist), for services to cycling
Rio Gavin Ferdinand (pundit and ex-footballer), for services to football and to charity
David Peter Hadfield (president, Boccia International Sports Federation), for services to sport
Corinne Claire Hall (cyclist), for services to cycling
Hugh Morris (chief executive, Glamorgan County Cricket Club), for services to cricket and to charity
Eve Muirhead (skip, British Olympic Curling Team), for services to curling
Sean O’Loughlin (rugby league player), for services to rugby league
Professor Nicholas Sheridan Peirce, (chief medical officer, England and Wales Cricket Board), for services to sport during Covid-19
Michael Summerbee (ex-footballer), for services to football and to charity
Karen Margaret Tonge (chair, Para Table Tennis), for services to table tennis
Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)
Gareth Frank Bale (footballer), for services to football and to charity
Ghazain Choudhury (wheelchair basketballer), for services to wheelchair basketball
Jennifer Carmichael Dodds (curler), for services to curling
Hailey Caitlin Rose Duff (curler), for services to curling
William Robert Leckie Duncan (curler), for services to curling and to charity
Thomas Scott Dyson (chief coach, Paralympic Pathway, British Rowing), for services to Paralympic rowing
Gary Kenneth Hall (Performance Director, British Taekwondo), for services to taekwondo
Benjamin Robert Hawes (chair, Athletes Commission, British Olympic Association), for services to sport
Elizabeth Ellen Hughes (director of special projects, Sport England), for services to sport during Covid-19
Samantha May Kinghorn (para-athlete), for services to disability sport
Shirley McCay (hockey player), for services to hockey and to the community in Northern Ireland
Hannah Lousie Miley (swimmer), for services to swimming and to women in sport
Dr Ian Stuart Miller (lately chief medical officer, British Paralympic Association), for services to Paralympic Sport
James Philip Milner (footballer), for services to football and charity
David Matthew Murdoch (head coach, British Curling Team), for services to curling
Verity Leigh Naylor (director of operations, British Paralympic Association), for services to Paralympic sport
Alan Rough (ex-footballer), for services to football and to charity in Scotland
Eilish Rutherford (para-hockey player), for services to sport and to charity in Northern Ireland
Andrew Peter Ryan (executive director, Association of Summer Olympic International Federations), for services to sport
Douglas Gordon Samuel, (lately chief executive officer, Spartans Community Football Academy). For services to Association Football and to the community in North Edinburgh
Georgina Claire Seccombe (Harland) (chef de mission, Team GB, Olympic Games 2021), for services to Olympic sport
Mark Selby (snooker player), for services to snooker and to charity
Neil Douglas Hamilton Simpson (para-alpine skier), for services to skiing
Andrew William Ramsay Simpson (para-alpine skier), for services to skiing
Mili Smith (curler), for services to curling
Stephen Connell Stewart (director of sport and exercise, University of St Andrews), for services to sport
Judd Trump (snooker), for services to snooker and to charity
Anwar Uddin, (Fans For Diversity campaign manager, The Football Supporters’ Association), for services to association football
Georgina Astrid Usher, (British Fencing chief executive), for services to fencing (London)
Tracy Whittaker-Smith (head national coach, Trampoline, British Gymnastics), for services to trampolining
David Brynmor Williams (ex-rugby union player), for services to sport and to charity in Wales
Victoria Wright (curler), for services to curling
