FORMER Olympic athletes Steve Cram, Dame Mary Peters and Wendy Sly are among the recipients of awards in the New Year Honours.

Cram, the former world champion, 1984 Olympic silver medallist and world record holder at 1,500 metres, is made a CBE in recognition of his recent work as chair of the English Institute of Sport.

Peters, from Northern Ireland, won gold in the pentathlon at the 1972 Olympics and was made a Dame in 2000. She is now made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for services to sport and the community in Northern Ieland.

Sly, who won silver in the 3,000m at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, receives an MBE for services to athletics.

Britain's FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce, from Northern Ireland, receives an OBE for services to football. Boyce, the former Irish Football Association president and current head of FIFA's referees' committee, steps down from the vice-presidency in May.

Boyce, who was severely injured in a Belfast car bomb in 1972, told Press Association Sport: "I would like to dedicate this honour to the people who kept football in Northern Ireland going through the many, many difficult years."

Brendan Batson, the former West Brom defender who was one of the pioneers for black footballers in the 1970s also receives an OBE for services to football. Batson, previously an MBE, worked for the Professional Footballers' Association and more recently has been an adviser to the FA on equality.

There is an MBE for Crewe's long-serving chairman John Bowler, who took over in 1987 and helped make the club into a fertile developing ground for young talent.

Two of the England women's rugby team who beat Canada to win the World Cup in August receive honours. Vice-captain and number eight Sarah Hunter, and prop Rochelle Clark - who is England's second-most-capped player with 95 appearances - both receive MBEs.

David Collier, who stepped down as chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board last summer after a successful 10-year spell, receives an OBE.

Boxer Paddy Barnes, twice an Olympic bronze medallist and who won gold medals for Northern Ireland at the 2010 and 2014 Commonwealth Games, receives an MBE.