AFTER winning gold at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, 27 year old sprinter Georgina Hermitage from Binsted has been named in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List.

Having arrived home after taking double gold in the T37 100m and 400m races in Rio last summer, one of the things Georgie most craved was a “proper cup of tea” and last week she celebrated with another very special cup - taking the place of Champagne as her training schedule is strictly teetotal - after being awarded an MBE for services to sport.

And she is already wondering what she will wear at the palace: “I will have to get a dress and a hat - certainly no tracksuits or trainers,” she laughed and is still, she said, getting over the surprise: “I’m blown away really. It is the icing on the cake after Rio and getting gold.”

The biggest problem, said Georgie who has cerebral palsy, was “keeping it secret as I knew six to eight weeks ago but couldn’t tell anyone!”

She doesn’t know when she will receive her MBE but will be taking her four-year-old daughter, Tilly, partner Ricky and her dad, Christopher Turner, to the palace for the awards ceremony.

Georgie owes her success to dedicated training and courage which is helping her compete at the highest level despite her disability, and now has Tokyo 2020 in her sights.

“Tokyo 2020 was never in my thoughts, originally,” she said. “When I first took it up it was Rio and then finish, but that is no way going to happen now.

“I have to do it step by step first with the IPC Grand Prix in Dubai in March and then London, and, body willing, I’ll then take it year on year and I have Tokyo 2020 in my sights as I’d love to be able to defend my titles, but it just depends whether I’m competitive enough.”