Lord Smith was appointed to the Order of the Thistle, while Bedford and Sönksen were awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to athletics and charitable fundraising and for services to anti-doping in sports respectively.

Glasgow 2014 welcomed the news that its chairman has been given Scotland's highest honour.

"On behalf of the whole team at Glasgow 2014, I'm thrilled to offer our warmest congratulations to our chairman Lord Smith on his appointment to The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, the highest honour in Scotland," chief executive David Grevemberg said.

"I can think of no one more fitting to receive this special honour which is only in the gift of Her Majesty the Queen.

"It is a great tribute to a great Glaswegian who continues to make an outstanding contribution to his home city and business and civic Scotland, as well as the delivery of an outstanding Commonwealth Games."

Meanwhile, Bedford - a former world record holder himself - first joined the London Marathon in 1986 as head of marketing.

He stepped down as race director last year to oversee the event's international relations and continues to be its elite athlete coordinator.

The race is now one of the biggest of its kind in the world, and this year was the seventh consecutive year that entrants broke the Guinness world record for charity fundraising at a single annual event worldwide, bringing the total raised for hundreds of charitable causes since the race began in 1981 to more than £663 million ($1.1 billion/€795 million).

Dave Bedford has been recognised by the Queen in the New Year Honours list 2014 ©Getty Images


"I had an exciting and eventful athletics career but I'm more proud to be part of an incredible event whose fundraising has totalled over half a billion pounds for charitable causes since its inception, and attracts the world's best distance runners to London each year," he said.

"London is viewed by most people as the best marathon in the world."

Sönksen is best known for being the man to develop the test to identify the use of human growth hormone (HGH) in athletes.

He started working on the test in 1992 when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) realised athletes could abuse the substance to enhance their performance and it was eventually introduced for use at London 2012.

He admitted the project had been "a long haul" but was delighted to be named on the New Year Honours list.

"I'm thrilled to bits, greatly honoured," he told insidethegames.

"It came as a complete surprise, but it was a very nice surprise to have, which my grandchild calls 'cool'."

Disability Snowsport UK chief executive Fiona Young was also recognised on the 2014 list, receiving an OBE, for services to disability sport.

Meanwhile, other sporting figures were awarded MBEs, including London 2012 health and safety executive Louise Brearey for services to last summer's Olympic and Paralympic Games and voluntary service to young people in sport, British Olympic Association (BOA) director of Olympic relations Jan Paterson for services to sport and British Disabled Fencing Association President Brian Dickinson for services to wheelchair fencing.

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