Great Britain's gold medal haul at the Beijing Olympic Games was fully reflected in the annual sports awards presented by the Sports Journalists' Association at a glittering ceremonial lunch in the City of London.

Triple gold medallist Chris Hoy was named Sportsman of the Year for his victories in cycling. Double gold medallist swimmer Rebecca Adlington won the Sportswoman of the Year award which was presented to her by Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal, herself the winner of the same award in 1971 when she was an international equestrian competitor.

Hoy and Adlington finished top of a poll of the 600-plus members of the Sports Journalists' Association of Great Britain, made up of sports writers, broadcasters, photographers and sub-editors.

Hoy, 32, from Edinburgh, won gold in the individual sprint, the team sprint and the Keirin in the Beijing velodrome while Adlington, 19, from Mansfield, won the 400 metres freestyle gold and then, five days later, shattered a 19-year-old world record to win the 800m freestyle. She was the first woman swimmer to win two gold medals for Britain since 1960. Adlington has since had a swimming centre and bar in her home town Mansfield named after her.

Adlington came to London to receive her award which was given during the middle of lunch so that she could return to her training pool that same afternoon. Hoy, on holiday in Asia, sent a video message of thanks to the audience and the SJA.

Further success followed for the cycling team with the Great Britain team, who won 14 medals, including eight golds, in Beijing together with nine golds and two silvers at the world track championships staged in Manchester in March, were honoured as Sports Team of the Year.

Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton was runner-up to Hoy with three-time Olympic sailing gold medallist Ben Ainslie in third place.

Nicole Cooke, the Olympic road race champion who set the pace for Great Britain with a gold on the first weekend of competition in Beijing,was runner up to Adlington, and Christine Ohuruogu, who won Britain's only athletics gold medal in Beijing in the 400 m,was voted into third place.

The lunch, hosted by SJA president Sir Michael Parkinson,and sponsored by UK Sport and Sky Bet, marked the 60th anniversary of the Association, and in recognition of that a special presentation was made to Dorothy Tyler, who won a silver medal in the high jump at the last London Olympics in 1948 and also competed in the 1936 Games in Berlin. Tyler, now aged 88, was one of several veterans from the 1948 London Games - both competitors and retired sports journalists – who attended the event as special guests of the SJA.

Bex Romero, Olympic and World Champion

Jason Kenny - Olympic Champion

Chris Hoy - BBC Sports Personality of the Year