Raelene Boyle is to be awarded the Order of Merit by the Australian Olympic Committee ©Getty Images

Former sprinter Raelene Boyle is to be presented with the Order of Merit, the Australian Olympic Committee's (AOC) highest honour, at its Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Sydney on Saturday (May 4).

The three-time Olympic silver medallist is set to be honoured alongside International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach.

The German will be attending the AOC AGM on his way to the SportAccord World Sport and Business Summit, which is due to begin in the Gold Coast next Tuesday (May 7).

He is being presented with the President's Trophy by John Coates, head of the AOC, for his "long service to the Olympic Movement".

Boyle, who is now 67, finished second in the 200 metres at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City.

Raelene Boyle, centre, won three Olympic silver medals, including in the 100m and 200m at Munich 1972 where she was beaten in both races by Renate Stecher, left, from East Germany ©Getty Images
Raelene Boyle, centre, won three Olympic silver medals, including in the 100m and 200m at Munich 1972 where she was beaten in both races by Renate Stecher, left, from East Germany ©Getty Images

Four years later, at Munich, she won silver medals in both the 100m and 200m behind East Germany's Renate Stecher, whose performances have since been discredited by proof that she was part of her country's state-sponsored doping programme.

Boyle also won nine medals in the Commonwealth Games between Edinburgh 1970 and Brisbane 1982, including seven golds.

Boyle has been diagnosed with cancer three times. 

She now works to raise community awareness about breast cancer and has been an active Board member of Breast Cancer Network Australia since 1999.

Coates is due to deliver his State of the Olympics in Australia address during the AGM.