Steve Backley was today awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours List.

And the javelin thrower, whose honour comes on the back of a season in which he struck gold at both the Commonwealth Games and European Championships, has set his sights on another elusive gong - the Olympic gold medal in Athens in 2004.

Veteran Backley, who broke the world record as a 20-year-old in 1990, said: "It's a fact I haven't won the Olympic gold medal when people said I could within two years.

"That is something that has kept me going for the last 12 years. The ambition that I still can gets me out of bed every morning. I'm looking forward to Athens."

His award goes with the MBE he received in 1995 and he said: "On that occasion I feel I got the award for my achievements. This time I think it is for my longevity in the sport, but it still means just as much."

Other sporting awards include an OBE for golf hero Sam Torrance, who led the unfancied European team to a magnificent victory over the Americans in the Ryder Cup at the Belfry this year.

And an MBE goes to Jonny Wilkinson, the prolific point-scoring England rugby fly-half.

The parents of murdered black teenager Stephen Lawrence are among those receiving awards whose lives have been touched by tragedy and misfortune.

Neville and Doreen Lawrence receive OBEs. Mr Lawrence said he was accepting the award on behalf of his son Stephen and other boys killed in race attacks.

"It is such a pity that I had to get something like this for such a tragic thing in my life," he said.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said the list was "about rewarding people who work and serve at the sharp end, people who change things or give outstanding service to others in difficult situations".

Heather Saunders, 45, who receives an OBE, fought tirelessly for the capture of the terrorists who killed her husband, Stephen, a military attache, as he drove to work at the British Embassy in Athens on June 8, 2000.

And there is an MBE for the Rev Tim Alban Jones, who won over hearts nationwide for his ministrations following the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham, Cambs.

He described his award as "recognition of the work of parish priests throughout the country day in and day out".

Elsewhere, comedian Jasper Carrott said he was "humbled" to get the OBE for services to charity.

There is a knighthood for Alan Bates, one of the angry young men of the 1960s, who starred in John Osborne's Look Back in Anger.

Other actors honoured include Brenda Blethyn OBE, Edward Fox OBE and Jean Simmons, now nearly 74, who gets an OBE.

Popular TV chef Rick Stein also gets an OBE.

The celebrity chef was in Bradford earlier this year filming for his BBC TV series. He tucked into a lamb and spinach Karahi curry at the Karachi Restaurant in Neal Street, Bradford.

And he was so impressed he included the dish in one of his recipe books.