Wales' Olympic boxing champion Lauren Price has been included in the New Year's Honours list.
And the Team GB star said her late grandfather would have been the "proudest man in the valleys" after she was awarded an MBE following her gold medal in the women's middleweight final at the Tokyo Games.
The 27-year-old said it was an "absolute honour and privilege" as she paid tribute to the upbringing provided by her grandparents, who raised her.
Price said: "For me it's been a pretty special year, the best year of my career so far.
"It was a dream of mine since I was eight years of age to go and compete in an Olympic Games, yet alone win a gold.
"I remember being a little girl sat in my living room watching the likes of Kelly Holmes, someone who inspired me massively and over the years it has taken hard work and dedication."
Price was set on the path to success by her grandparents, Derek and Linda, who took her in at just three days old when her parents gave her up.
They raised her in their Ystrad Mynach home, supporting her during a remarkable life that had already seen her play football and netball for Wales before her Olympic success in the boxing ring. You can read more about her upbringing here.
She went on to say: "My nan and granddad have always supported me and encouraged me and if it wasn't for them I wouldn't have achieved what I have today."
Price, who has more than 50 caps for the Wales football team and is a former world kickboxing champion, took the gold medal home following a unanimous decision win over Li Qian in August.
After receiving the medal, she looked skywards in remembrance of her grandfather, Derek.
Asked how he would be feeling now, Price added: "He would have been the proudest grandfather ever, he would have been the proudest man in the valleys.
"It's a shame he wasn't here when I came home from Tokyo, he hadn't long passed, he always supported me... it was such a massive part of my career, to have received this award he would have been more than proud."
Derek died in November last year, aged 80, and had been suffering with dementia.
Before her success in Tokyo, she had told WalesOnline: "I’ve always said it’d be for them, just going, but to win a medal, it’d be for all the years they supported me, all the money they spent on sending me around the world and getting me as good as I am. It’d be for them."
Price is one of a number of Welsh Olympic and Paralympic gold medalists to be honoured.
Sailor Hannah Mills, shot put champion Aled Sion Davies and Swansea-based boccia champion David Smith all received OBEs.
Swimmers Matthew Richards and Calum Jarvis, para canoeist Laura Sugar and wheelchair basketball player Jim Roberts all get MBEs.
