During her career, she had an ongoing acrimonious rivalry with fellow Briton Fatima Whitbread. Sanderson has made numerous television appearances as a guest, and worked as a sports reporter for Sky News when it first aired in 1989. She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1985 New Year's Honours, raised to Officer (OBE) in 1998, and later to Commander (CBE) in the 2004 New Year's Honours. Sanderson served as Vice-Chairman of Sport England from 1999 to 2005, and in 2009 established the Tessa Sanderson Foundation and Academy, which aims to encourage young people and people with disabilities to take up sport.