Reserved for ‘eminent achievement and merit of the highest degree in service to Australia’, no more than 35 people in any given year can be nominated for the country’s top gong —  the Companion of the Order of Australia, or AC – making it the nation’s most rare award.

And the country being what it is, we are usually pleased when a sports superstar gets honoured by the nation — although they don’t normally make it into the elite ranks of the AC.