PARALYMPIAN Tanni Grey-Thompson said she was proud and excited at being made a dame.

The 35-year-old said yesterday: "I really am excited about it. I did not expect to get anything like this, so to get here and get something like this is, well, I think it's pretty cool.

"I will be making sure I write Dame Tanni on everything from now on. It is something really special and it means a lot to me and my family.

"My husband, Ian, thinks it's hilarious, he has not stopped singing There's Nothing Like a Dame, from the musical South Pacific, since we heard, but I know he is quite proud of it really.

"I am not sure if anyone else in disability sports has been given such an honour before, or anyone from the Paralympics, but I am proud of it because of that, and it shows how our sports are truly recognised now.

"My daughter, Carys, is only three, so she does not really understand about this yet; she understands about what I do competition-wise.

"I am really looking forward to going to London some time in the new year to collect this honour, it will be good to take my family down there with me. It will definitely be a special day, especially for my dad, Peter."

Tanni has previously been made an MBE and OBE in the Queen's Honours.

She was born with spina bifida and is paralysed from the waist down.

At this year's Paralympics, in Athens, she won gold medals in the T53 100m and the T53 400m, taking the number of paralympic gold medals she has won to 11.

As well as being a star athlete, she has also been an ambassador for disabled sport.

Her next major competition will be the London Marathon, in April.

She said: "I am planning to continue in my sport. I will definitely be competing next year, but I am not sure about after that. I will have to wait and see."