Calls for Jason and Laura Kenny to receive knighthood and damehood after more Olympic success
The husband and wife duo are two of the most successful British athletes at the Games
There have been calls for both Jason and Laura Kenny to be added to the next Honours List to receive Knighthood and a Damehood.
The Kennys both made history in the Olympic Games with Laura becoming the most successful female British athlete, while Jason now tops the table of British medal winners, overtaking Chris Hoy.
Laura took her fifth gold and first silver to put her level on medals with horse rider Charlotte Dujardin, however, Kenny has a more gold medals, making her the most successful female Olympian in Britain.
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Jason has become the most successful British Olympian of all time with nine medals, including an amazing collection of seven gold medals and two golds. Sir Chris Hoy and Sit Bradley Wiggins hold the next two spots.
The fact that Kenny is ahead of two Knights of the Realm has prompted discussion for him to be given the title as well.
Leading this is Kenny's old school in Bolton, Greater Manchester. Speaking to the BBC, Alex Devany, headteacher at Mount St Joseph school, said: "We think he definitely deserves a knighthood alongside Sir Chris Hoy and Sir Bradley Wiggins.
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"We are immensely proud of all his achievements and we have thoroughly enjoyed watching him thrive and succeed over the years since he left school in 2004 - from Beijing back in 2008, then in London, Rio and now Tokyo,"
She also praised his "resilience, humility and extremely calm manner."
Both he and Laura have a CBE, but now it is suggested that they may be getting a historic Knight/Dame.
Married couples have been awarded this in the past but never have it been in the same Honours List.
Laura took her first medals, two golds, at the London 2012 Games but Jason pulled off two medals, gold and silver, at the Beijing 2008 Games where Team GB set their record medal haul on the track. They haven't managed to beat it since but hit two medals below over the next three Games.
The next Honours List is the New Year's list with the Kenny's likely being added to it after their amazing performances.
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Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!
I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.
It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.
After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.
When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.
My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.
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