DAME Tanni Grey-Thompson has been granted the Freedom of Redcar and Cleveland Borough.
The paralympian, from Wales, has lived in Redcar for six years. During Tuesday's ceremony Tanni said she loved living in Teesside as Redcar's roads were the best in the country for her training.
Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council decided to honour her following her 11th Paralympic gold medal at Athens last year.
The award was presented in the form of an official scroll and presentation plaque.
She said: "It is a huge honour for me to receive this. It means so much to me to be accepted as a member of the community."
* On Monday, Tanni took to the skies at Durham Tees Valley Airport behind the controls of a plane that has been adapted to train disabled people to fly.
The athlete, who is patron of the British Disabled Flying Association, was helping to launch the plane, owned by Cleveland Flying School.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article