The mother of Great Britain gold medallist Lizzy Yarnold has said that her daughter deserves to have a red postbox painted gold, just as other winners had during London 2012.

Since winning the skeleton last Friday, an online petition has received 43,000 signatures for Yarnold to be honoured in her hometown of West Kingsdown, Kent. However, Royal Mail are keen to do something different, stating London 2012 was "unique".

Judith Yarnold has disagreed with their statement and insisted that the painting of postboxes should continue.

She told reporters: "This isn't about me or us, it's about recognising the achievements of the Olympians who have put in so much effort to gain their achievements.

"They put in an amazing amount of work to get where they are, and the public clearly want to recognise this by having gold postboxes.

"A lot of people who are not sporty tend to understand what the Olympics means. It would be nice to see the inspiration and the recognition given by the gold postboxes carry on."

Double Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes has also backed the campaign via her Twitter account.