Rio 2016 stars Mo Farah, Laura Trott and Jason Kenny set for Theresa May's 'biggest ever Honours List'

The Government has also committed to increasing funding for Team GB at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Mo Farah, Jason Kenny and Laura Trott are among Olympic stars who could be in line for awards in what is set to be one of the biggest-ever honours lists.

Downing Street paved the way for a flood of Knighthoods, OBEs and CBEs by saying honours should be decided on merit and not limited to a particular number.

Number 10 also signalled that funding for Olympians going to the 2020 Tokyo games would be increased on the back of the Rio team’s success.

Under the current system, guidance on the number of honours given out at the Queen’s birthday and in the New Year are set out by the Cabinet Office.

There have already been calls for key figures to receive knighthoods, including Farah, who took two gold medals, Kenny, who won three, and Trott, who secured two.

With the entire women’s hockey team taking gold along with a range of other athletes, not to mention the coaches and officials responsible for the team’s success, the list promises to be among the biggest recorded.

Asked about Team GB’s total haul of 27 gold medals, the Prime Minister’s spokeswoman said the performance was “phenomenal”.

She pointed out that the UK had become the first country to increase its medal haul at the next away games after having hosting them four years earlier.

The spokeswoman said: “Where there are special circumstances and a particularly high number of deserving people, then the [honours] committees and Government would look at that.

“They should be about recognising and rewarding great achievements and my goodness we’ve had that over the past two weeks.”

It follows news that there will be parades to celebrate the success of Britain's Olympic and Paralympic stars in Manchester and London.

The spokeswoman also confirmed that coaches and other Team GB officials would be considered eligible for rewards.

Asked about future funding, she added: “Under the spending review UK sport is guaranteed increasing government funding of almost a third by 2020.

“That means we will be investing more in our Olympians going to Tokyo than we did for our Olympians for Rio and we think that’s the right direction for sport.”