A host of Britain’s Olympic and Paralympic heroes have been snubbed in the first New Year Honours List since Labour won the general election.

Only 41 athletes who took part in Paris 2024 have received a gong for services to their sports, despite Team GB and Paralympics GB winning 189 medals (63 gold) across both Games. The number honoured is close to half the 78 Olympians and Paralympians awarded an MBE, OBE, CBE, knighthood or damehood three years ago after 188 medals (63 gold) were brought home from Tokyo 2020.

Just 14 of those to win Olympic gold in Paris received an honour, all but two of them women. They included first-time champions Keely Hodgkinson (800 metres), Bryony Page (trampolining) and Eleanor Aldridge (kitesurfing), each of whom was awarded an MBE. They were joined by Katarina Johnson-Thompson (heptathlon) and Dina Asher-Smith (4x100m relay), despite both having to settle for silver last summer. The only male gold medallists recognised were mountain biker Tom Pidcock and swimmer Duncan Scott, who were upgraded to OBEs, after being given MBEs three years ago.

There was no such upgrade for Alex Yee, the men’s triathlon winner, Team GB closing ceremony flag-bearer and BBC Sports Personality of the Year nominee, nor for Scott’s relay-winning team-mates Matt Richards, Tom Dean or James Guy. But with Scott seemingly singled out for becoming just the third Briton to win eight Olympic medals, and veteran rower Helen Glover the only other member of Team GB elevated from an MBE to OBE, the biggest snubs were arguably reserved for first-time champions.

Toby Roberts was overlooked after winning the men’s sport climbing title, while Nathan Hales also missed out after breaking the Olympic record to claim the men’s trap-shooting crown. In rowing, none of the victorious men’s eight were recognised. That was despite the women’s quadruple sculls-winning crew – Lauren Henry, Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson and Georgie Brayshaw – and the women’s lightweight double sculls champions – Emily Craig and Imogen Grant – all receiving MBEs and Glover’s elevation after winning silver in the women’s four.

Having delivered two gold medals, Britain’s equestrian athletes were snubbed altogether in the wake of the horse-whipping scandal that also cost Charlotte Dujardin the chance to become the only member of Team GB in Paris to be awarded a damehood.

Of the 41 athletes from Paris 2024 to receive an honour, 24 competed at the Paralympics. Again, the list was dominated by women, with 15 recognised versus nine men. More of them also received upgrades than their Olympic counterparts, led by Hannah Cockcroft, who was made a CBE after winning her eighth and ninth Paralympic golds this summer. Fellow wheelchair racer Samantha Kinghorn received an OBE, as did swimmers Alice Tai and Tully Kearney and rowers Erin Kennedy and Lauren Rowles, all of whom returned victorious from Paris. The only male athlete similarly recognised was four-time cycling gold medallist Jaco-Albert van Gass.

Swimmer Maisie Summers-Newton and wheelchair tennis star Alfie Hewett were the biggest names snubbed from the list after neither received an upgrade to their respective MBE and OBE. That was after Summers-Newton won her third and fourth Paralympic gold, while Hewett completed a clean sweep of major doubles triumphs by adding the Paris 2024 title to his victories in all the grand slams held this year. He also won the Wimbledon singles crown.

As previously forecast by Telegraph Sport, this year’s New Year Honours has heralded a further tightening of the criteria for awarding gongs to mark sporting success on the global stage.

There was a previous clampdown when the Conservatives were in power amid concerns too many sporting honours had been issued under the last Labour government, most notably to all members of England’s 2003 Rugby World Cup and 2005 Ashes-winning teams.

Telegraph Sport has been told the independent Sport Honours Committee has sought to harmonise this approach when it comes to Olympic and Paralympic gold medallists since Sir Ron Kalifa succeeded Sir Hugh Robertson as chairman.