Cooke won the world road race gold medal in Varese on Saturday to become the first cyclist - male or female - in the history of the sport to hold that and the Olympic title in the same year.

Hoy won three gold medals in Beijing, the first Briton to achieve that swimmer Henry Taylor in 1908.

Calls for Cooke to be honoured are being led by Lynn Davies, the 1964 Olympic long jump champion.

He said: “Globally, there are two things considered as marks of greatness.

"One is Olympic gold, the other is world champion.

“She has achieved both, not only in the same year but nearly in the same month, and that is incredible.

“Athletes peak for the Olympic Games and can take months to get back up to that level."

Davies believes that Cooke's achievements are of the equal of what Kelly Holmes did in 2004 when she won the Olympic 800 and 1500m titles and was made a Dame.

He said:  “If this is considered the level of honour for that level of achievement then she has achieved it.

“The difference is it came at the end of Kelly’s career, so it may be something people may want to hold back.”

Hoy's case is being fought by team-mate Bradley Wiggins.

He said: "It's got to be Sir Chris hasn't it?

"We've grown up together and the guy's a legend.

"We've got some exceptional men and women in the team but Chris did the business.

"It would be a knighthood for the whole of British cycling."

Wiggins, himself, won two gold medals in Beijing to take his career total to three, just one behind Hoy, and some people believe he should also be knighted.

He said: "Sir Brad?

"Who knows?

"I'm an OBE already.

"If I'd got one gold in Beijing it would have been a CBE but I got two golds.

"I'd love it if they thought it might be worth a knighthood.

"I'm quite patriotic in that sense.

"I like that Queen and country thing.

"Having grown up in London, with Kilburn two miles down the road from the Palace, it means something.

"There is also the fact that knighthoods mean a lot to a specific sport when, like cycling, it's outside the mainstream."