A row was sparked after Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, Britain’s best-known Paralympian, criticised the “lack of parity” between Olympic and Paralympic athletes in the New Year honours list, as reported on insidethegames yesterday.

 

While all the Olympic gold medal winners were given honours, 17 of the 35 medal-winning Paralympians missed out on any recognition.

 

There is also a significant difference in the level of honours awarded - triple gold medallist Chris Hoy was awarded a knighthood but swimmer David Roberts was given a CBE, despite coming home from Beijing with four gold medals, taking his career total to 11, equalling Dame Tanni's haul.

 

Davies, who won a gold medal in the long jump at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, was made a CBE in 2006 for his services to the sport, having previously been made an MBE.

 

He said Dame Tanni was right to draw the public’s attention to the difference.

 

He said: “Tanni is right, I would support her 100 per cent.

 

"In many ways the efforts of our Paralympic competitors are even greater than the able-bodied Olympians because of the barriers they have to overcome to compete.

 

“They are a huge inspiration to so many people, in particular disabled people who can feel held back by their conditions.”

 

Dame Tanni, who sits on a committee that helps decide which athletes should receive awards, later insisted she was “hugely supportive” of the honours system.

 

She said: “I don't think there is any right or wrong with the honours system.

 

"It is not based on ‘you win a medal, this is the award you get'.

 

“It's based on where you are in your career, the magnitude of what you've achieved, where you're going, are you going to be around in four years time?

 

“I think with sport it's difficult, you don't get this kind of discussion around an actor or someone involved in charity work because it's not comparable.”

 

But Aileen McGlynn criticised the system.

 

McGlynn, who is registered blind, won two golds in cycling at the Beijing Paralympics, and was awarded the OBE in this week's honours, as was her tandem pilot, Ellen Hunter.

 

However, the 35-year-old said it was unfair that only multiple Paralympic gold winners had been recognised, where able-bodied athletes were honoured after winning one gold.

 

She said: "I think there is still a perception that it is somehow easier for athletes at the Paralympics to win gold.

 

"But that's not true.

 

"We train and compete just as hard as Olympic athletes.

 

"To win gold at the Paralympics is as high as you can go, and an amazing achievement.

 

"Are our gold medals somehow worth less?

 

"I was disappointed my fellow cyclist Rachel Morris, who also won gold in Beijing, wasn't honoured, as she deserved to be recognised just as much as I did."

 

Morris had been overlooked, along with fellow Welsh competitor, Liz Johnson, a 22-year-old  cerebral palsy sufferer.

 

She was ignored despite winning a SB6 100m breaststroke gold in Beijing but had claimed she was not offended by the snub.

 

But John Morgan, the executive director of Disability Sport Wales, was angry on her behalf.

 

He said: “The system needs to be reviewed in the light of what seems to be a different way of thinking towards the two successes.

 

“We feel extremely disappointed for Liz Johnson and Rachel Morris who have not been recognised at all.”