British Cycling’s performance manager Shane Sutton has been awarded an OBE by Her Majesty the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

The Australian has worked with the Great Britain cycling team since 2002, guiding Team GB to 34 medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games.

“It is a huge honour and privilege to be here, which I owe entirely to the brilliant work and commitment of the riders, the coaching team and the support staff around me,” said Sutton.

“This accolade is not about personal achievement but that of the whole GB cycling team.”

Sutton’s career began as a road and track cyclist, where he won gold in the team pursuit at the Commonwealth Games in 1978 and in 1990 he was the overall winner of the Milk Race.

His coaching achievements have recently been recognised with a number of accolades including the 2008 UK Coach of the Year award and 2009 UK Performance Coach of the Year awarded by UK Sport.

Brian Cookson OBE, British Cycling’s president, added: “On behalf of everyone at British Cycling I’d like to congratulate Shane on this well-deserved honour.

“The contribution he has made over the past few years has been immense and his knowledge and expertise will be invaluable with London 2012 looming ever larger on the horizon.”