Super-cool Balding adds to her Olympic laurels

The accolade comes just weeks after she collected an honorary Bafta in May to recognise her on-screen achievements.

She said today: “It has been a year of unexpected delights. This is the pinnacle.”

From a horse training family, she was a keen horsewoman from an early age and during her teens and studies at Cambridge was an amateur flat jockey.

After graduating she joined BBC radio in 1994 and the following year made her TV debut, soon becoming a familiar face in horse racing coverage including the Grand National.

She has presented from five Olympic Games but came into her own at London 2012 with her unflappable appearances and depth of knowledge. She was also one of the leading figures in Paralympics coverage last year.

In addition to her sporting roles, she has hosted a Radio 4 Ramblings series, a BBC4 series about cycle touring and earlier this year she fronted Saturday night entertainment show Britain’s Brightest.

Balding, 42, also hosts the faith spot on Radio 2 each Sunday morning and since earlier this year she has become the face of racing on Channel 4 after the station acquired the rights to many leading events.

She was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2009, but was successfully treated.