SCOTLAND’S World and Olympic track cycling champion has admitted she was conflicted in accepting an MBE honour, saying that it “embarrasses” her to use it.

Katie Archibald said she was initially going to decline an offer of the honour, before being persuaded by her mother to take it.

Archibald, 23, has enjoyed a rapid rise through the world of cycling since switching from swimming at the age of 17.

And after shelving her university plans and ditching a call-centre job less than five years ago, she has since gone on to win two world titles and European golds.

She was part Great Britain’s track team alongside Laura Kenny, Joanna Rowsell-Shand and Elinor Barker who won gold at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

She has also represented Scotland, winning a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and has taken home a raft of British and Scottish titles.

The Milngavie-native has also won her a legion of fans on and offline, with her quirky and open attitude.

Writing in her latest column for publication Cycling Weekly, Archibald has now spoken of her initial reluctance in accepting an MBE award following her Olympic-win.

“I have an MBE. Actually I guess ‘I am an MBE’ is the proper wording,” she said.

“I don’t say the sentence often; it embarrasses me a bit. But the letters are there after my name and I have the necklace and certificate and the like.”

She said that she had initially received a letter from Buckingham Palace asking if she would accept the award in the 2017 New Year’s Honours List if offered.

However she said that she was “fairly indifferent”, to the request at first, ignoring it for a long time.

It was only when a third party agency she was involved in was contacted that she said she was forced to make a decision.

After a discussion with her mother weeks later, she then decided it would be “disrespectful” to decline.

She said: “I explained the letter and that I was going to decline the offer of an offer. I said it wasn’t a medal from a palace that I dream of when I raced my bike, that it felt like a social rating and a hierarchy that I didn’t want to involve myself in. Boy did I get a telling. ‘Any publicity is good publicity, is it? Get your name in the newspapers for turning down an honour, make a big show of yourself, eh? Make sure everyone else feels stupid?’

“I quickly resolved to believe her: it would be disrespectful to decline. I wrote to the palace and said I would accept.”

However, the athlete then said that her father had a different reaction. She did not consult about the situation.

She added: “He found out when he read my name listed in the newspaper, and sent me a text: ‘See you’re an MBE now. You can only sell your soul once you know. Pa x.’”

This year, Archibald is touted to be one of the star attractions in the European Cycling Road Championships in Glasgow this summer.

The event is one of four cycling disciplines taking place as part of the multi-sport Glasgow 2018 European Championships, alongside the European Championships

for BMX, Mountain Biking and Track Cycling.

This year will also be defending her omnium title at the track world championships in March and compete in both track and road events in the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.