Your choice has never been so difficult
| 10:27 UK time, Tuesday, 11 November 2008
A couple of years ago the build-up to Sports Personality Of The Year was underway accompanied by rather glum mood music. A lot of people were writing that nobody deserved to win the main award, and it had been a year of British sporting failure. Darren Clarke was installed as the pre-event favourite, but in the end Zara Phillips galloped home - to the pleasure of many and the irritation of others.
In 2007 there was another upset. Lewis Hamilton was thought to be in the lead entering the final straight, but the public chose Joe Calzaghe instead - which generally speaking pleased the people who hadn't been Zara fans.
But this year I've already seen one plea in a newspaper letters column not to make the main award. That's not because there isn't a strong potential winner but because there are too many. The argument was it was unfair to single out one individual when so many major stars are in contention.
Well, to use one of the oldest cliches - sport is about winning and losing, so we'll press on with finding a winner. And this weekend we saw a fresh torrent of news items about this year's contenders in The Observer.
And in The Daily Express.
And The Telegraph.
We're just over a month away now, so I want to explain how this year's voting will work - because we always want it to be as fair and transparent as possible.
The main Sports Personality Of The Year award will be carried out in the same way as in the past two years. We're currently inviting nominations for a shortlist from newspaper sports editors across the UK - from national broadsheets and tabloids along with some selected regional titles and magazines. We'll collate a Top 10 in alphabetical order and that will be announced on Monday 1 December. The nominees will be interviewed on BBC television and radio as well as being profiled on our website, so there'll be a good chance to debate their pros and cons ahead of the live show on Sunday 14 December.
And that's the point when it's over to you: the winner is chosen by a public telephone vote that will open shortly after the start of the live transmission. The person with most votes wins, and the result is independently checked and verified before it's announced by Gary Lineker and Sue Barker.
For 2008 we're changing the method for selecting three other main awards. The panel of newspaper editors has worked well in previous years in drawing up the main shortlist, so we've asked them to vote this time round for Team Of The Year, Coach Of The Year and Overseas Sports Personality Of The Year. In the past these awards have been selected by a BBC Sport experts panel and this is an attempt to get a wider constituency involved - though I accept that some people would have liked us to go even further and have more public votes. The reason we haven't done that is logistical: running one major phone vote on the night is a challenge, and to have two or more running would risk confusion - though we'll keep under review whether we can increase participation in the future.
You can read more about the selection process for other awards here.
And here.
Others - notably the Lifetime Achievement Award - are within the gift of the BBC.
But we've spotted that many of our colleagues in newspapers do read this blog, so it's now open for your comments as they make their minds up about the main award nominations and their choices for the other categories. As ever, I'll drop by from time to time to respond to the main comments and any questions raised.
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Roger - thanks for being so transparent.
Question that I raise - in previous year's the main contenders have been profiled in detail at various points during the show - some towards the beginning, some towards the end only just before the lines closed. This inevitably causes much constination afterwards: how is this being tackled?
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The only fair way is for the vote to finish before the show goes out, but I know the BBC won't do this as they want to earn money from the phone calls during the show!
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im looking forward to spotty this year. there are so many candidates this year compared to some years when there hasnt been many contenders. i believe chris hoy should win for his efforts at the olympics in winning 3 golds. although i expect lewis will win. team of the year is between wales grand slam rugby and cycling, i think cycling will win that one. coach of the year should go to dave brailsford at gb cycling. nadal will win the foreigner award which is much deserved. all in all it should be a good show this year.
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With regards to the "Team of The Year" - please allow the Britsh Cycling Team to be voted for as the best team separately - rather than lumping them with the whole Britsh Olympic and Paralympic team.
I believe that they deserve some special recognition for totally dominating their sport, rather than just being lost in with the enormous olympic team.
They should have been team of the year last year, but for some reason were not, please dont let them miss out again.
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Lewis Hamilton will win, making the award is a contradiction in terms, given he's totally devoid of personality.
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I'd like to see:
Calzaghe win back to back personality of the year
Manchester United for the team of the year
Sir Alex Ferguson for manager of the year
Usain Bolt for overseas personality of the year
but it ain't gonna happen...
it'll probably look more like:
Hamiltonor Hoy to win personality of the year
Cycling for the team of the year (unless we can make all of Team GB the team)
David Brailsford for manager of the year
Michael Phelps for overseas personality of the year
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First of all thank you for your article it was very interesting.
However, my view is slightly different from many.
Fristly, there is little doubt who will win the SPOTY. Anyone who doesn't think Lewis Hamilton won't win the award is kidding themselves on. Whether he is deserving or not is open to much debate. Personally I do not.
With their being a public vote and so many F1 Fans the votes will flood in for Lewis Hamilton
Add the fact the BBC will want to honour F1 in some way for giving it TV rights for the coming years then it becomes blindingly obvious who will win this years SPOTY.
Secondly, over the years I have wondered about the name of the award and believe it is high time that the SPOTY be changed to Sporting Achievement of the Year as recognition of the sport.
Over the last twenty year the trophy has in the main been awarded to genuine achievers for example Paula Radcliffe, Kelly Holmes, Steve Redgrave, Joe Calzaghe, Johnny Wilkinson, Linford Christie.
There is a thought here that the achievement is more important than the personality and would tend to agree.
Thirdly, there is no doubt that the SPOTY will be glitzy and glamourous. I really hope however even if Lewis Hamiton wins the trophy that Chris Hoy is given a life time achievement award. To have won three olympic gold medals, in one games, is surely deserving of national plaudit of somekind.
Finally, I really hope the show is slicker than it has been over recent years. I have been disappointed with the overall presentation and the sidelining of certain events and champions. For example this year British Football should be given minimal coverage whilst Cycling should be praised to high heaven.
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How about using a 'strictly come dancing' format? Have the main show (do you remember when it was actually called 'Sports Review of the Year'?), then allow people to vote AFTER the show for a specified period of time, and then have a results show for the main award later on that evening (preferably) or the next day.
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And, as per usual, no footballers deserve to be, on the shortlist. Rooney or Ferdinand for letting Ronaldo drag them to the double? I dont think so. The main contenders are Adlington, Hoy, Ohuruogu, Hamilton and Murray. Realistically however, despite the other 3 having wonderful seasons, its between Hoy and Adlington. Both setting new standards in their sport and beating the best at the highest levels weve ever seen as standards rise all the time. I wouldnt personally like to choose a winner but im fairly certain it will be Rebecca Adlington.
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Dear Auntie,
Please, please, please, please please let the GB cycling team be nominated for the team of the year award. They clearly deserve the award, and are a cut above any othe british teamin any sport. Nominating the whole olympic team would be a crime of enormous proportions, given the underachievements of our athletics team.
Cyclists for team of the year!
Please.
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My votes would be:
Personality of the Year: Chris Hoy (can't argue with 3 Golds), although Hamilton will win.
Team of the Year: Manchester United - how often does a team do the Premier League/Champions League double? (although the Cycling team also deserve the award)
Overseas Personality: Padraig Harrington - consecutive Opens is a fantastic achievement, but Nadal will probably win
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I really hope its either Addlington or Hoy this year as both dominated there sports and did something that no other British Olymipians have done in the past.
But I get the feeling it will go to Hamilton, even though I am a fan of F1 i cant say he should be even close to winning the award.
Fair play to him he won the title.
But in a sport where only 2 teams each year can produce the world champion it means he was really only competing against 3 other drivers, and one was his team mate who was very poor. So fair play to the lad, but until f1 becomes less about money and technology, and there is more competetion on the grid i don't think it should be him.
Murray has had a great year too, but he wont win it till he lifts a major.
My top 3
1. Adlington
2. Hoy
3. Ohuruogu
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Hamilton doesn't deserve to win SPOTY. He will surely win F1 a few more times in his career, so he can't get the award every time he does so. Plus, I thought he was very fortunate to actually snatch 5th place in the end.
Chris Hoy is a very good shout. Our best medalist at the Olympics and someone who has worked tremedously hard.
But I think it should go to Rebecca Adlington. To be the first female Gold medalist since the 50s is remarkable and she did the double too. The award generally goes to a male, but I think she is the most worthy of the title.
Certainly, as it's Olympics year, we should get an Olympian winning the award who isn't given much credit the other 3 years.
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Hi, thanks for the article. Can I ask what the BBC will do to address the problem of unequal coverage to the different candidates, which gives those who are profiled at the start of the show such an advantage in terms of exposure? In particular I'm remembering the amount of time given to Zara Phillips in the 2006 show compared to the "interview" given to Nicole Cooke (about the number of times she fell off her bike!).
I've suggested a couple of times that the Beeb could do a separate programme prior to the event highlighting the achievements of all of those nominated, then opening a week of voting, culminating in the programme itself. And then the voting of course would stop before the show starts. Then we could concentrate on the actual sports review rather than interviews during the evening. This year especially, that would be such a treat, to see all those brilliant moments all over again.
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this year it has to be hoy
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Its has to be Hulk Hogan!
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If Chris Hoy doesn't win, it will be a travesty.
Here's my shortlist:
Rebecca Addlington
Ben Ainslie
Joe Calzaghe
Lewis Hamilton
Chris Hoy
Andy Murray
Kevin Pietersen
Rebecca Romero
Bradley Wiggins
Shane Williams
But you could also make a case for Nicole Cooke, Ryan Jones, Victoria Pendleton, Christine Ohurugu and several others.
Coach of the year: Dave Brailsford
Overseas sports personality: Rafael Nadal
Team of the year: British Cycling
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Hmm difficult to choose this years awards.
Personality of the year: Would have to go for Chris Hoy, Awesome to get 3 golds.
Team of the Year: Has to be the cycling team. They have won so so many medals this year its unreal!
Coach of the Year: Maybe the cycling coach. Dave Brailsford. Not sure who else it could be, certainly not Bolts dance coach!
Overseas PERSONALITY: With personality being the key word has to go to Usain Bolt. Who else has the personality and the achievement (3 gold medals + 3 world records)??
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Can we just change it to 'Sports Celebrity of The Year'?
Sadly too few of our Sportsmen and Women have what could be described in passing as a 'Personality', money has changed Sport into a production line for uniformity and conformity.
At least 'Have I Got News for You' saw fit to replace a Politician with a Tub of Lard, I'm sure on SCOTY the nominees could be equally replaced by a lump of plaster.
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I shall be very interested who "the great and the good" decide should be in the Top 10. Some are obvious (Hoy, Adlington, Hamilton, Calzaghe, Wiggins?) but can we guess the remainder?
Not sure why there need to be 10 really. If there are 3 or 4 cyclists in the list it'll just fragment the vote.
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I am a Lewis Hamilton fan, but I couldn't possibly bring myself vote for him ahead of Chris Hoy. But Hamilton will probably win...
And I agree about the cycling team being separated from Team GB, what they did was phenomenal and deserves recognition on it's own...
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Why does this board need pre-modding? It's impossible to follow properly.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
I won't be watching this year, as it is consistently poor television.
I'd rather the BBC put some time and money into actually winning some broadcast rights to some sporting events
as opposed to putting Gary Lineker and Jill Douglas on a stage with the sole intension of boring the UK rigid.
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Surely Cardiff City should be in contention for team of the year. It was a massive feat for them to make the FA Cup final, far more impressive than the Wales Grand Slam; winning a tournament of six teams? Hardly the achievement of the century is it?
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Its got to be the Calzaghes. Enzo for coach and Joe for personality, especially if Joe retires. They've done much more then last year.
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Felipe Massa for Overseas Sports Personality Of The Year, he really showed a lot of character this year!
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I think SPOTY should go to Chris Hoy - 3 Gold medals is a truely amazing achievement. And the Team of the Year to the GB cycling team. I say this because although Man Utd did the double, and Lewis Hamilton won the F1 Championship these events happen every year. I'm not trying to take away what brilliance they've achieved (British sport is on a real high at the minute) but these Olympians only get one chance every 4 years. So, for me, the cycling team should clean up. Plus, do we really want the WAGS and the pussy cat dolls upstaging Linekar and Barker?!
Overseas should go to Nadal. He's overtaken arguable one of the best tennis players in Federer by sheer grit and determination on all surfaces now. Padraig would have a case if Tiger wasn't injured!
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A tough call this year but for all the right reasons and that is why I hope it becomes a celebration of a fantastic year for sport.
Personal view (which is all one can offer in such a subjective debate) is that I would like to see Chris Hoy/Rebecca Adlington win.
Lewis Hamilton has been fantastic for two years now and will be for many more to come but multiple Olympic gold is something very special - and don't forget Lewis isn't the only World Champion amongst those three...
That said well done UK sport, great year...footballers notable by their absence from Euro 2008 but even they seem to have upped their game as a result!
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Perhaps the award should go to Hamilton's car or Hoy's bike as both have more personality than their driver/rider.
Another backslapping yawnfest that goes on too long and emphasises that, apart from the Olympics, the BBC covers few sports that real people watch.
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Isn't it interesting how many people think Hamilton will win, rather than believing that he should win.
Does this reflect a sense that Formula 1 is not so much a sport as an engineering competition?
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Ben Ainslie is a good candidate for sports personnality of the year. He won 1 silver and 3 golds at all his olympics. He is hailed to be one of the greatest sailors ever and he has always been at the front of londons 2012 olympic campain.
He is one of the nations greatest sportsman and is a great inspiration to young and old in his particular sport. 5 live claimed he was one of the greatest olympians ever and is one of many who secured team GB's result at the top.
Top Bloke; a real inspiration.
x
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MOTOR RACING SHOULD BE OMITTED FROM THE VOTES:-
Driving is NOT sport. Anything with an engine is NOT sport it is driving! He's won the F1 ch'ship that should be enough, and yes, he lacks personality.
Overall winner: Joe Calzaghe or Chris Hoy
Best team: ?????????
Overseas: Padraig Harrington. Sorry, but back to back majors either side of the pond is awesome!
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Post 7.
Whilst I agree the british cycling team deserve many plaudits for their achievements and probably deserve to win the team award for their unbelievable showing in the olympics, it is unfair to say that british football deserves minimal coverage.
Man united won both the premier league title and the champions league - something which not many football clubs in any country achieve. Also 3 out of the 4 semi finalists in the champions league last season were british clubs.
Rangers were unlucky to lose the final of the UEFA cup as well meaning that British football teams have had a very strong year all round.
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What I have never understood is why the smaller sports don't get a look in. The program hopefully will be dominated by the Olympics and Para Olympics, F1 and also football as usual.
Your supposed experts especially in the overseas category are pitiful and show no knowledge at all. They need to look at all sports not just the popular ones.
Hopefully the 1,2 3 will be Chris Hoy Rebecca Adlington and Lewis Hamilton. Manager should be the cycling manager and overseas should be Ole Einar Bjoerndalen in what he has achieved in Biathlon last year yet again and also as he will soon become the greatest skier of all time overtaking Ingemar Stenmark but I think they'll give it to Usain Bolt.
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I think this is the easiest BBC's Sports Personality Of The Year.
It has to be Hamilton by at least 50%. He has been the most consistent over the year. To get 98 points in 18 races was magic. He was a treat to watch race. He really made it a wonderful end to the year of F1. Never seen a finish like that ever in F1 racing.
Well done Hamilton you deserve everything you are going to get. 1st World champion since Damion Hill in 1996.
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If you trust the BBC enough to spend your hard-earned money on a premium-rate popularity contest phone-in, then knock yourselves out.
The only truly historic landmarks in British sport this year happened in cycling, but I wouldn't vote for a cyclist, cos your vote will be split.
Your money would be better spent phoning 0898 - hotties chatline, but don't let me put you off - get spending, hope it's fun! :)
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I just hope that the award goes to someone who actually practises a SPORT, i.e. not somebody paid for driving a car and not somebody paid for beating people up.
There are plenty of obese people in England who do both, and they definitely aren't sports people.
Yet they vote in droves. And so it probably will be Lewis Hamilton or Joe Calzaghe.
Maybe they should have 2 awards: one for sports, and one for activities for the obese.
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Can't quite believe that Mark Cavendish hasn't been mentioned. In any other country he would walk(!) it. I'm just hoping that newspaper editors will appreciate his achievement.
He shouldn't necessarily win, but should get some credit.
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The Champions League did not have three British clubs in the semis, it had three English clubs.
(Try doing the same with Ranger, Celtic and, er, someone else, and see what happens.)
How can Nick say SPOTY doesn't cover minority sports when it devotes a chunk to the paralympics - very worthy and all that but who rushes home from the pub to watch it?
And that bloke who criticised the suggestion of Man Utd for team of the year on the basis England was not a major world force but then had the cheek to suggest the Wales Rugby Union side. Hilarious.
Team of the year? The Philies for winning the World Series.
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Great article and loads of very good comments. What I want to know is why has no one mentioned Mark Cavendish. He is, after all, one of our cyclists. He ahas also achieved something no other British person has ever done - win 4 stages of the Tour de France in one year. Surely that feat alone should earn him a place in the top 10.
As for the SPORY itself, my vote goes to Chris Hoy. What an athlete.
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To Reply 33, clearly you have no knowledge of what actually is involved in F1.
The person may well be powered by an engine but so many other sports use other implements to power themselves to victory. F1 should be inclucded because it requires physical fitness, mental fitness and a large amount of tactical knowledge. If you take F1 out of the equation you might as well take cycling out as it only involves "riding" or sailing as you are added by wind.
Anyway back on topic.
Lewis will win but sadly I disagree with it:
- I think I would agree with it more if he had been at a smaller team prior to McLaren (as MS was with Jordan for example) and had worked his way up. To me he has just been given the best and told to get on with it.
- The last race in Brazil won him the championship thanks to luck. Massa drove a much better race and did everything that was required of him. Hamilton struggled to maintain 5th and was lucky.
- Massa won more races throughout the season and was hampered by technical problems. Sure Lewis was penalized more but then again he did break the rules.
Sadly Ben Anisle will be overlooked. To me his achievement is fantastic. Even the President of the IOC claimed Ben's achievements were the most impressive. Whilst he hasn't done as well as Redgrave and Pinset, what he has done is, is win 3 gold medals, at back to back games, in 3 completely different events. His achievements would be like Bolt winning the 100 in Beijing, then winning the 10k in London and then capping it off by wining the Hammer in 2016.
Having said all this- I would be happy with Hoy/Wiggins/Addlington. As long as no footballers are in the top 10.
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Lewis Hamilton should win, All those who say F1 ''is not a sport'' only say that due to their ignorance.
There are alot of great candidates but Hamilton has been competing for much of the year and won the championship at the end of it, through hard work, and the fulfillment of a talent which has been in the making since he was a child, I agree driving isn't a sport but Motor racing or should that be ''motorsport' is a sport.
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Am I the only person that thinks that the 'personality' of the year has to be Ellie Simmons. She has to have been the most memorable personality.
If it on achievment then I think Rebecca Adlington, Chris Hoy, Bradley Wiggings, Joe Calzaghe, Christine Ohurugu (is that how you spell it?) and Lewis Hamilton are the pick of the bunch.
Team of the year is the Olympic Cycling team (closely followed by the swimmers).
Overseas must be between Usain Bolt and Padraig Harrington.
Manager of the year on a personality show must be Harry Redknapp as he is the only one that I have come across who actually has a personality other than a miserable one...
Sadly the show will be rubbish and the decision slanted by the program running order. Oh well
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Shortlist should be;
Hamilton
Hoy
Adlington
Quite why Andy Murray is regularly mentioned is beyond me. How can his achievements for this season rank alongside the World Championship and Olympic golds of Hamilton, Hoy and Adlington?
JohnnyGray, I can't believe you are disputing Boxing as a sport! It's probably the toughest sport in the world - technically complex, requires huge dedication, fitness and courage!
And to Formula 1 critics - its not as simple as 'driving a car' - otherwise any taxi driver could be F1 world champion. Its the most technically advanced sport in the world, which will present its own challenges to the drivers. The same drivers that have to endure 2 hours of highly intense, competitive racing in extreme temperatures whilst maintaining maximum concentration.
If you critisise F1 for being too much about technology, then you must also discount Hoy and the British cycling team because their sport also has extreme reliance on engineering, maths and science.
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And that's the point when it's over to you: the winner is chosen by a public telephone vote that will open shortly after the start of the live transmission. The person with most votes wins, and the result is independently checked and verified before it's announced by Gary Lineker and Sue Barker.
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And all effected by when they are profiled during the show, engaged lines, who is in that evening instead of going out, blah blah blah.
Why the same pathetic voting system?
Instead allow voting to take place online and via telephone lines before the show, that way you can concentrate on profiling the year instead of constantly hawking the phone number to people.
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colmac75 - You're right, in any other year, Cav would be guaranteed a nomination, and possibly even a top 3.
Also, I would actually prefer to see Bradley Wiggins win SPOTY over Chris Hoy - his 3 World and 2 Olympic titles puts him up there with Hoy (2xWC and 3xOG), and contained within those rides were 3 world records (Team Pursuit -WC final, OG quali and final) and an Olympic record in IP qualifying. Mainly though, that win in the Madison worlds stands out as my favourite sporting moment of the year - just the manner in which he and Cav won it was electrifying. But of course, the Olympic titles stand out in the public's eyes as most significant (and I'm not necessarily disputing that), and fair play to them and to Hoy if he wins SPOTY.
Finally, I'm nobody's English scholar, but I always took 'personality' in this context to simply mean something like 'celebrity' or just 'public figure'. Essentially, one can 'be' a personality as well as 'have' one. So the use of 'personality' in SPOTY seems correct in the sense that we don't have to vote for the most colourful character every year (if that was the case, Dean Macey would win it every time).
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What does Nicole Cooke have to do to be one of the favourites? She won Olympic gold and the World Championship in the same year and is the best female cyclist in the world.
Yes, Rebecca Adlington won two gold medals but isn't the best female swimmer in the world. Her achivements also pale in comparison to Michael Phelps' seven gold medals.
The team of the year should be between Man United and GB cycling.
Overseas between Nadal, Usain Bolt and Phelps.
All the other awards should be scrapped as they get in the way of a decent review of the year programme.
I liked the previous idea of having the Sports Personality award given on the following day.
However, would the BBC have enough action to show considering how many sports they've stopped showing oevr the years?
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Team of the year - GB Cycling. They can easily be counted separately, as not only did they dominate the Olympics, but also the Cycling World Cup too.
Coach of the Year - Brailsford, for the same reason.
Overseas - Phelps or Bolt.
SPOTY?
Hoy for the stellar performance?
Adlington for the surprise package?
Hamilton for being the youngest champion?
Murray for the most improved sportsman?
It will be Hoy, and quite right too!
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I dont think Lewis Hamilton is as nailed on to win as everyone thinks. He failed to win last year and this year has attracted even more negative press, although this was outweighed eventually by winning the title he still has many detractors in this country due his supposed arrogance.
I would expect Andy Murray to be up there after reaching his first grand slam final and winning back to back masters titles.
Calzaghe has had another excellent year as did many of our Olympians.
One thing that is certain is that the winner of sports personality is rarely recieving the award for their personality rather what they have achieved.
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Nicole Cooke or Chris Hoy or Ben Ainslie. Without question. Just a shame two of them are cyclists and will therefore split the cycling devotees.
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How about moving it back to Birmingham. It is the perfect location for all the sports men and women around the UK to meet, in the MIDDLE!!!
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For all the great achievements of the Olympians, Hamilton deserves the award above Murray and Hoy/Ohoruogu, 2nd and 3rd. There are two many firsts in his achievement to ignore and these are on an international and historic scale. For foreign sporsperson of the year, I'm sorry but is there really a serious contender to challenge Usain Bolt? The true star of the Olympics and 24 carat personality to boot. Team of the year I guess will be cycling although my personal favourite would be Manchester United as Champions League and Premiership champions. Lifetime achievement Ferguson (apologies for the bias) and young SPOTY has to be the swimmer (what's her name again)
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Stop calling it a Personality award. I know they don't want to highlight one sporting achievement over another, like reaching a Tennis Grand Slam final is more or less of an accomplishment than winning 3 Olympic gold medals but it's no more about personality than it is salary.
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Colmac75 couldn't agree more. Cav has had a landmark season and firmly established himself as the number 1 sprinter in the world, more wins than any other pro this year, 4 TdF stages, wins in the Giro he is without a doubt a huge success story.
However, as the British public barely acknowledge the existence of the Tour, unless there's a British GC winner no road cyclist will win it - So despite the fact that Sprinting is an art form in its own right I think Mark can hope for a short-list at best.
As he won't win it I'd support a cycling movement behind Hoy or Nicole Cooke to ensure the vote doesn't get split allowing someone who doesn't deserve it as much to win.
My predicted top 3:
1. Hoy
2. Hamilton
3. Addlington.
Team - British Cycling
Overseas - Phelps and Bolts tie (impossible to split them)
Manager - Sir Alex.
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Even Though Hamiliton did really well to win the F1 championship, he should not get sports personality of the year.
Reasons are he was in a team expected to win the title and he was the no1 driver whereas in Ferrari both raiko and Massa had equal status with both challenging for the title. Hamiliton winning the Title with a team like Red Bull or Renault would of been more impressive.
the Award should go to Hoy, Adlington or Calzaghe, what they achieved was more impressive than hamilton.
Overseas is between Bolt and Phelps
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Despite his responsibility for the revolution in GB cycling, there probably isn't an appropriate SPOTY award for Chris Boardman. Is there somewhere I can nominate him for a knighthood?
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Lewis Hamilton had a tough introduction last year and just won through this year in the most exiting finale to a F1 season. But it's too early in his career.
Joe Calzaghe is worth a vote because once again he has proved himself to be invincible and in boxing over the number of years he has been taking and giving punches is no mean feat.
The rowers did magnificently well and so did the cyclists who are also worth a mention.
However there is only one Brit for me who deserves the accolade this year, who every time he steps up to the mark you expect him to win and who delivers time after time, who stands out from a very large pack of talented sailors and it's Ben Ainslie. That man has something special that will never be repeated in sailing.
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I think Hoy, Addlington and Lewis have good shouts to win this year as well as Murray. I enjoy watching most sports including F1 and would be happy to see any of them win. But I have issue with the people who dont think Lewis Hamilton should win like johnnygray26. I think there are a couple of dozen F1 drivers who would take issue with his comment about practising their sport. F1 is a full time sport and Lewis has competed since March through to October not two and a half weeks so dont talk about merit.
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I suppose Hoy wasnt in a team expected to win.
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I believe Joe Calzaghe should win. The achievement of Hamilton although superb does not compare with a person who is now rightly classed the best Brittish boxer of all time.
Furthermore given the current state of health of a true personality and golfing legend, it would be appropriate for the BBC to honour Severiano Ballesteros in some way - will anyone ever play the game and inspire so many like he has over the years?
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Like HEEELLLLLO!
Lewis Hamilton all the way.
1.Youngest ever WDC
2. First WDC from a minority
3. Highest points tally ever in the sport in his first two seasons beating eclipsing Senna Schumacher easily !
4. all this in a car that was not class of the field and up against the previous 2 yaers WDC as his team mate in 2007
Where will all these so called great olympic athletes be in 10 years time answer FORGOTTEN !
Where will Hamilton a multiple WDC and beating Schumacer's record of most wins that is where :)
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Actually given the number of negative posts on this forum about Hamilton I would suggest that he wasn't favourite to win SPOTY despite the number of posts asserting he is. I personally think he deserves it not just for what he did this year but what he did in the last 10 years getting to where he is. Youngest winner, first black winner (I'll give it 10 posts before someone comments on that), first British champion for 12 years. I also think his father should be manager of the year as the true inspiration he is to any father bringing up children.
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I love watching F1 but Lewis can win that championship every year Rebecca Adlington , Chris Hoy and Ben Ainslie can't for me Rebecca's swimming achievement in winning that first gold then smashing the field in the second and obliterating the world record in the process which was as old as she was just AMAZING i've never in my lifetime seen a British woman swim like that and she was also really good value for her interviews too (though her use of amazing was a litle overdone lol).i have to agree that the cycling team should be treated as a separate team and include the world championship team too what was it 14 out of 17 golds in Manchester following up the Olympic sucess.
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Reason for not thinking driving competitions are "sport": how unfit the top drivers are. I remember in the 1970s when The Superstars made sportsmen from all fields compete against each other at a dozen different sporting tests. Last every single time would be the engine driver (James Hunt, Barry Sheene etc). They have next to no "sporting" ability.
Reason for not thinking boxing is a "sport": do the people who take part in it really look as if they are PLAYING? Yes it's incredibly hard and gruelling but so is working down a coal mine.
It's a mercy there's no one being slated from pub games (darts, snooker etc).
We have world-class sports people from football, tennis, cycling, swimming, etc etc. Give the award to a SPORTS person. That's all I ask!
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This has certainly been a year when British Sportsmen and women have proven themselves in so many varied sports at home and around the World. I believe there is a case this year for having a series of 'special recognition' awards for Rebecca Adlington, Chris Hoy and Ellie Simmonds as stand out individuals and Team GB and Team Paralympics GB for their overall successes in Beijing, especially ahead of London 2012.
The process you describe could then proceed as normal for the individual annual award (which may well be one of the above) but at a personal level I would like to see that go to Christine Ohurugu for her achievement in returning to take Gold after all of her past difficulties.
There are lots of other deserving individuals but Lewis Hamilton and Andy Murray should perhaps be recognised after more 'prolonged' success.
It would be nice to recognise Padraig Harrington in the Overseas category but Usain Bolt is probably another standout sportsman and 'personality'.
I just hope the evening is enjoyed by everyone and showcases all of the sports where success has been achieved by members of 'Team GB', whatever their individual sports.
It would also be nice for the telephone revenue to be WHOLLY directed into a basket of diverse charities selected by the BBC and for the telecomms companies to waive their fees.
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The probem with the minority sports - like sailing and cycling, and the chances of their athletes to win SPOTY is that 98% of the population will never do cycling and similarly have no idea about sailing nor will we ever care to know.
Sailing for example is such a small, specialist and privileged sport, that the pool of talent is FAR smaller than with football, rugby, cricket, F1 etc, which all have MASSIVE world appeal. It can only be expected that people will have less respect for a sportsman (kingslie/hoy) who has dominated in a sport that has such low participation world wide. As was commented in beijing, GB was basically the only team to have a fully developed and operational track cycling academy/programme, and while there success was excellent, it is far less of an achievement than winning a world cup, Ashes, an F1 season, beating Hopkins and RJJ in one year.... etc
If the 10 year reigning tiddlywink champion was british, by the logic of some people here, he should win it.
We cant get away from the fact that millions and millions of people play the more mainstream sports in SPOTY and to be at the pinnacle of these sports is a much greater achievement, or at least the public will recognise it more.
To the people being so dismissive of hamiltons merit....the guy is TWENTY TWO for christ sake and he has won an F1 season, beating some legends in the process (alonso, raikonnen etc). How can anyone thing that someone fannying around in a sail boat for a gold medal compare?!?!
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In this year there should be some flexibility.
It has been a year of fantastic sporting achievements, probably unsurpassed since the 1960s.
Lewis Hamilton, despite the jealousy and tripe spouted by most commenters on the Beeb website deserves to win it, it's not just that he has won the world title, it's that only two other drivers have won it with less top flight experience and they were Farina and Fangio in the first two years. To win it with only two years at the top is thus unsurpassed. Even with great equipment he still had to actually do it.
Chris Hoy also deserves it for totally dominating his sport all year long. Three golds is massively impressive btu it's as much the dominance pre olympics as well, everyone knew Chris would win and he delivered, lots of athletes crack under that expectancy.
In any other year the exploits of Beccy Adlington would have won it but her direct comparison (Hoy) was even better. Joe Calzaghe has done every bit as much this year as he did last time. and others like Murray, Ohurugu and Ainslie have again excelled.
However for me the award should be shared between Hamilton and Hoy and I don't think it is fair that one should miss out over the other.
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Ooohh, the agony of choice.
Seriously though, this has been a great year for british sport. I like the idea of a show the week before which highlights the contenders with a short interview and feature. In fact, It would be great if the Beeb could run this as 5 half hour shows during the week before (maybe in the 7pm slot on BBC1 or 2?) with two contenders per show, allowing ample time to put achievements like Mark Cavendish into proper perspective for those who are unfamiliar with that sport.
My shortlist (in no particular order)?
Mark Cavendish
Chris Hoy
Lewis Hamilton
Rebecca Adlington
Nicole Cooke
Shane Williams
Andy Murray
Ben Ainslie
Joe Calzaghe
Ronnie O'Sullivan
Team: GB Cycling just ahead of ManU.
Overseas: M Phelps. Hard to see it not being with his unique achievement, although tough on Nadal and Bolt and Harrington.
Coach: David Brailsford or Warren Gatland
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Does Lewis Hamilton have a personality? I would initially strongly agree, but then again....
He has the determination, drive and focus to win a world title in a sport which seems to penalise him for sneezing in the wrong place (or similar), where his competitors openly dislike him, and where senior influential figures (Bernie Ecclestone) dismiss racial abuse against him as just 'a joke'.
Pains me to say it, but he is a role model for a younger generation. (Though I'd still rather have Calzaghe win).
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The cyclists had NO competition, yes thats partly because of their ability and training....but there programme is 5 years ahead of anyone else, they might as well have been the only ones there, its like any premiership team playing in league 2 and dominating it... I personally think it is worth much less than the achievements of Hamilton, Calzaghe or even Adlington.
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it has to be Ashley Cole
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Apparently Lewis Hamilton is odds on favourite to win the SPOTY award! I don't want to be harsh but is Formula 1 really a sport anyway?
Plus he has won one World Championship! That's it. Chris Hoy and others have won countless Olympic medals and countless World Championships!
It's a farce if Lewis Hamilton wins and not good for British sport if you achieve so much but do not get the recognition for it. Whereas, if you make multi millions from an elitist "sport" you are put on the pedestal! Crazy world we live in.
Mind you, he is more of a celebrity than the others and as we know that's all that appears to matter these days in Britain.
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Mark Cavendish simply must be nominated. At the age of 23 he is simply the fastest sprinter in cycling, winning 4 stages of the Tour de France, 2 of the Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy) and many other races. What is dissappointing is that road cycling is not respected as in practicly all other European countries. As has been mentioned, Cavendish would stand a huge chance of winning this award in another European country. If he was French, Belgian, Austrian etc. there would be absolutely no contest.
He may not have won a medal in his specialist event at the Olympics, but this was not his fault at all, because his partner in the event, Wiggins, was exhausted from winning his two other gold medals.
As for who should win it, I have really no idea, which just shows what a great sporting year its been for British Athletes. I'll go for Hoy. Just.
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Actually, thinking about it, the whole thing needs to be renamed "Sports Person of the Year". It isn't about personality at all; it's about sporting achievement.
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At Dinghy level sailing could not be further away from the word priveleged.
A basic dinghy costs less than the average mountain bike and costs nothing to open its sails to the wind.
It's biggest problem is it is not spectator friendly and that's why Ben Ainslie is unlikely to be a real contender despite his worthiness.
In my last blog I overlooked to mention the swimmers and in particular Rebecca Adlington. Very well done and definitely a contender Rebecca but still not consistently over many years and Olympics in the league of Ben Ainslie.
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And another thing
I would have more inclination to vote for any of the "Olympians" if they had made the slightest attempt at being less self serving and distanced themselves from the most disgraceful regime in the world today. That cynically exploited them as tame propaganda poodles.
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gsm, my I just say that Hamilton is only 23. Do you expect him to have won 5 world championships all ready? I take some of your points, but really...
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Hamilton? Lol - lets see him win in a Williams-Toyota.
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I think Adlington's Olympic performance in the pool far outweighs the other acheivements this year including Hamiltons lucky last lap championship win but hamilton will win, it's obvious.
As for the others, I just hope that the team gong doesn't go to Manchester Utd and the Coach gong doesn't go to Alex Ferguson. They were only successful due to the play of Cristiano Ronaldo. Without him they would have ended up with nothing. But I do have a bad feeling that Ferguson will get his .... what an amazing coach, who else would pick the best player in the world every week.
Phelps has to win the overseas gong. Yes, there was a lot of hype but what an acheivement.
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I also think Lewis Hamilton will win it.
For me
Individual Hoy
Team Not sure, Cycling or Wales
Coach Warren Gatland , taking a team that lost in the group stages of the WC to the Grand Slam is pretty amazing
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er um Motorsport Elitist
Compared with ?
Equestrian
Rowing
Cycling
Shooting
Yachting
LOL and again HEEEELLLOO
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Heh someone made a comment about sailing and it is an interesting one. Surely the measure of an achievement is who they beat in achieving it.
So who did Hoy beat winning his golds (creditable though they are) who did Addlington beat for that matter? They are, like it or not, minority sports which detracts from their achievement (through no fault of their own). You could argue in winning four stages in the tour de France, Cavendish's achievement is a greater one due to its prominence in the sport.
However, we all know who Murray and Hamilton beat. For that matter Calzaghe. Hamilton for me should be SPOTY. Unlike many posters I don't think he is favourite but I think he should be.
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lewis hamilton should not win it. its a travesty if he does, fair play he won the world title but what did it for him? the car and the fact that as someone above said only mclaren or ferrari usually produce the world champion unless its such a talent like alonso a couple of yrs ago who did it in none of those 2. hamilton is basically racing 3 maybe 4 including alonso for the world title, the rest havent got a chance in hell so i wouldnt count it as much of an achievement as hoy or even adlington who won 2 swimming golds and broke a world record when she wasnt expected to. her wins all came from her using the strength of her own body rather than having a machine doing it for them
adlington or hoy to win. even murray deserves it more than hamilton cus he won back to back masters titles with far more fierce competition not to mention get to the us open final
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'Actually, thinking about it, the whole thing needs to be renamed "Sports Person of the Year". It isn't about personality at all; it's about sporting achievement.'
Rubbish - It's a popularity contest.
0898-who's your favourite?
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I personally hope one of our Olympians win the Spotty this year - Chris Hoy would be my choice. However, I think Hamilton is a shoo-in which is a shame seeing as he should only be valid for the Overseas award (due to his tax exile status and not paying his dues to the country).
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reply johhnygray26.
In the 1970s even footballers were unfit compered to racing drivers now. And yes we do have world class footballers but they are all foreigners.
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A seriously difficult year to make a selection. Most years, with their performances through the season either Hamilton or Murray would have been certainties for the award. When was the last time a British F1 champion didn't win?, and Rusedski won the award easily in 97 despite having a less good year than Murray.
However, I wouldn't give it to either of them because I expect them both to have better years in the future, and because of the Olympics.
Most deserving of this for their career achievements are either:
Ben Ainslie or Nicole Cooke.
For performances this year alone, it could be any one of about half a dozen cyclists (Hoy, Wiggins, Cavendish, Pendleton, Cooke or Romero) or it could be Rebecca Adlington.
Really a lot now depends on how the BBC promote the award and the show, so who they bring back into the public memory.
Team of the year? The Olympic team overall or the GB cycling team if they are considered eligible. Otherwise it's between the Wales RU team and Manchester United.
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tonytorra - Re- My post where i mentioned Rooney or Ferdinand, re-read what i originally wrote. I said neither deserve to be on the shortlist but one probably will for the sake of having a footballer. Cheers :)
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aka bluepeter
adlington yeh true hasnt done it for many years but the award is for whats done over the past year, NOT for say over 5 or so years
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has everyone forgotten the paralympic team and their achievements, they were only second to China.
Sports personailty, Eleanor Simmonds, Sarah Storey, Chris Hoy, Rebecca Adlington, any one of these is well deserved.
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In response to Arsenal
Cheryl Cole would stand a better chance
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There definitely needs to be a seperate awards system for the Olympics team and the likes of Chris Hoy and Adlington to recognise their achievments.
But for Sports Personality of the YEAR, and for consistancy throughout the year in their sports, regularly competing week in week out, not just in one competition that happens every four years, the award must go to either Hamilton or Andy Murray.
They both have their detractors, but for excelling in their fields consistantly, there cant be many better Brits out their at the moment.
Andy Murray is the best Brit tennis player by far since Fred Perry, and has won several Masters titles, which may not mean much to casual Wimbledon watchers only, but it is a big deal in the tennis world. Reaching the final of the US open was a remarkable achievement giving the fierce competition the mens game has. Given that he has beaten all the top players at some point this season including Nadal and Federer he has to be at least in the top 3.
Personally for me I have not enjoyed watching a tennis player play as much as Andy Murray this season, he has been involved in some brilliant matches, and this bitterness of some of the English towards him needs to stop. Recognise his talent and get behind him. So what if he didnt support England in the World Cup, I don't think many Scots wold, and I don't believe many English would support Scotland if they actually managed to qualify for a major tournament without England.
As for team of the year, aside from the cycling team, must be Man United, although I am just slightly biased! Was a brilliant season, which other football teams will do well to match.
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Its justy good to have so many actual winners to pick from rather than the usual 1 or 2 with a few plucky losers.
I agree the Team GB Cycling team should get the team award rarher than the whole Olympics squad.
Hoy and Hamilton have made the best use of their bike/F1 car whilst Becky Adlington proved British swimmers can win medals at their 1st Olympics rather than all this "I'm looking to 2012 stuff"
Andy Murray has had an excellent year but won't get into the top 3 and Nicole Cooke has been very consistent for a long time...not just this year.
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Not wishing to upset anybody but what constitutes a team? In my opinion, despite their heroics, Team GB Cycling is a collection of individuals competing as individuals except for team sprints and madison etc. I don't really see how they can be considered for the Team award. Similarly for the olympic "team".
Don't know who I'd pick instead though.
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It has to be Hamilton. Fair play to Chris Hoy and the Olympians, but since when has the British public paid any attention to indoor racetrack cycling? Since we all of a sudden got good at it, and not a moment before. Are there going to be packed houses next time there's a cycling event in Britain? Perhaps while the current Olympians are competing, but ten years from now, when the rest of the world has cottoned on to how to do well in ths sport, as will inevitably happen? Doubtful.
Motor racing, specifically Formula 1, has been front and center for British sports fans for at least 50 years. The British Grand Prix is a major event on the sports calendar. Nine different British drivers have won the title, but none since 1996. Lewis is the youngest driver ever to win the title, and the first non-white person to do so. He won in an incredible finish, by a single point, over the home town favourite, in one the most incredible endings to a grand prix race, and season, ever.
And he dates a Pussycat Doll. How can he possibly not win?
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I am all for the public vote, however, I think that to be a representative of the country's view I think that there should be updates of the state of the vote throughout the programme. We can see from online votes, that they start off with some action group getting the members to vote in a certain way, and then when the public see this they start voting to ensure that the result is more representative of the public as a whole. I therefore strongly believe that there should be at least 3 updates on the progress of the vote throughout the show. With modern technology this should not be a problem, it would also give more confidence to us that the vote was being conducted in a transparent way.
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I must be honest and say i dont understand all this fasination with the Olympics. They are all excellent sportmens and have scarificed alot for there acheivements. But it has been 4 weeks out of the year which they performed on the highest stage in their sport. Now i do recognise that they dont not get the media coverage of other 'mainstream' sports but there is a reason for this.
I do feel the Olympics in Britain is fuelled by the BBCs inability to compete with the likes of SKY and ITV for more mainstream sports coverage. Yes F1 is returning next year but that just seems like them jumping on the bandwagon of Hamiltons success.
Hamilton had a 9 month battle for the world title and Murray has been fighting all year also.
I do agree that there should be a seperate ceromeny for the Olympians but this has already been heald in London with the victory parade.
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No mention of Victoria Pendleton..... hasn't she now won olympic gold in 2 different sports. Rowing and Cycling. Now that is a huge achievement. Some may have won more golds but in terms of true athletic achievement I think winning olympic gold in 2 different sports is pretty much up there with the best.
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Why make a fuss about voting systems and who deserves to win? It's a TV programme. It's entertainment. It's designed to promote controversy and increase viewing figures. Just ask the people on X-Factor what they think. Treat it as entertainment and either switch on and enjoy it or switch off.
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At #100: It's Rebecca Romero, and she only won Silver in Rowing. No doubt she's talented, by the facts you state are wrong!
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Heh someone made a comment about sailing and it is an interesting one. Surely the measure of an achievement is who they beat in achieving it.
So who did Hoy beat winning his golds (creditable though they are) who did Addlington beat for that matter? They are, like it or not, minority sports which detracts from their achievement (through no fault of their own). You could argue in winning four stages in the tour de France, Cavendish's achievement is a greater one due to its prominence in the sport.
However, we all know who Murray and Hamilton beat. For that matter Calzaghe. Hamilton for me should be SPOTY. Unlike many posters I don't think he is favourite but I think he should be.
_____________________________
Thats silly. Hoy beat Jason Kenny, showing GBs dominance, but in France, Spain, Germany, Netherlands etc cycling is a more prominent sport.
It was a fantastic achievement, and 3 gold medals deserves to be SPOTY.
Lets not forget its not only the olympics, he won 2 golds and a silver at the world championships, he won various world cup medals, and took the 500m world record.
Not only that but the work he does with cycling boards and officials to improve the sport is priceless. And he is always willing to help youngsters, even taking training camps for 11-14 year olds.
Oh yeah and he is genuinely a very nice guy.
Got my vote.
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I would like to know what Ben Ainslie has to do to get any sort of recognition for his achievements.....
Assuming Ben Ainslie doesn't win (which I expect to be the case, unfortunately), Chris Hoy, Rebecca Adlington or Victoria Pendleton are also very deserving. Remember Victoria Pendleton's achievements this year weren't just at the Olympics. Cycling Team as Team of the Year & Dave Brailsford as coach of the year. Overseas surely must be Usain Bolt?
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Forget about who deserves it etc
If it was actually for PERSONALITY, who would your votes go to???????
My contenders would be;
Joe Calzaghe - actually got some personality
Jeff Stelling - bags of the stuff
Ronnie O'Sullivan?
it is actually hard to think of sportspeople with great personalities, give me your ideas!
My votes on Jeff Stelling! He feels good, doo doo doo doo do do!
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Hey Completely changed my opinion (that's the power of debate for you)
I said earlier the likes of Hoy, Pendleton and Adlington will we totally forgotten about in 10 years, that was wrong on my part
IT WILL BE 5 YEARS TIME
so maybe they should get some credit this year after all :)
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My votes would go for:
SPOTY
1. Adlington
2. Hoy
3. Hamilton
Team of the Year
Manchester United
Coach of the Year
The GB Cycling coach
Overseas SPOTY
1. Nadal
2. Bolt
3. Phelps
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Sports Personality of the year-Hoy/Adlington
Team Of The Year-GB Cycling Team/Man Utd
Overseas- Bolt/Phelps
Lifetime- Sir Alex maybe
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I feel that Ben Ainslie is clearly the best candidate for Sports Personality. His outstanding achievement and ability to completely dominate his chosen sport for over a decade is without compare......
...shame that no-one is listening. Guess it'll be Lewis.
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My top 10, which takes into account the depth of opposition (which is why Hoy isn't number one):
1) Rebecca Adlington
2) Christine Ohoruogu
3) Chris Hoy
4) Shane Williams
5) Lewis Hamilton
6) Andy Murray
7) Bradley Wiggins
8) Nicole Cooke
9) Mark Cavendish
10) Wayne Rooney
Team of the Year: GB Olympic Cycling
Coach of the Year: Fabio Capello (based on results now minus results last year, he must be a genius)
Overseas Personality: Michael Phelps
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OK, so Hoy got three gold medals and that is certainly to be admired. However, Hamilton won five times on his way to the WDC (six times if you count the one that the FIA took away and gave to Massa). The F1 WDC rewards the best driver over the complete season. That would be Hamilton. He won the most exciting and competitive F1 season that there has ever been.
All the nominees are excellent but Hamilton is the one that stands head and shoulders above the rest for so many reasons.
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I think with all the controversy on Christine O's win, she'd be a very challenging choice, and I don't think a lot of people will vote for her, based on this.
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Joe Calzage deserves SPOTY - he is a fantastic role model and a winer beyond compare. It'll do Hamilton good to come second - he'll get it many times in the future, methinks.
MUFC team of the year, with the cyclists 2nd.
Overseas - has to be Bolt.
Coach - Sir Alex.
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At 1:24pm on 11 Nov 2008, oglidewell wrote:
Lewis Hamilton will win, making the award is a contradiction in terms, given he's totally devoid of personality.
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Devoid of personality? Just because you don't like his personality doesn't mean he doesn't have any. He has oodles of personality.
I think your attitude is all part of the general British malaise -- afraid to support its heroes for fear of offending others.
Be proud of what you are and who you are! You have some very special people to be proud of and, currently, Hamilton just might be on top of the heap. Let the world know how proud you are!
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Cycling an elitist sport? What planet are you on pastafai (3.47pm). It is the most working class, egalitarian sport in the world,not a silver spoon to be seen anywhere. As for the Heretodaygonetomorrwo -you will find that Chris Hoy raced in and won all 15 races en route to his three gold medals.
The team award should simply be handed over to GB cycling, there is no other contender. Nine world gold medalson the track, eight olympic golds, Nocole cooke's gold on the road and a big imput also into Mark Cavendish's success . Debate over
PS Nicole cooke - world and olympic champion in six weeks in two all time classic races - was the sporting achievement of the year
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First of all, to all the people who harp on about the word "Personality", Collins Essential English Dictionary defines it as follows:
"personality
Noun
1. (Psychol) the distinctive characteristics which make an individual unique
2. the distinctive character of a person which makes him or her socially attractive
3. a well-known person in a certain field; celebrity"
So, while some sporting legends may not have "the distinctive character ... which makes him or her socially attractive", they are at the very least "a well-known person in a certain field". So kindly drop the nit-picking!
As to the awards themselves, as a cyclist I am very happy to see Chris Hoy's name being mentioned so many times, and also Dave Brailsford's and that of the whole cycling team. Whether the collection of GB Olympic riders truly qualifies as a "team" is another question, but if it stops Man United getting the award I'll be very happy. ;-)
Whether Hoy can beat Hamilton is a very tricky question. Hamilton has the advantage of his achievement being fresh in the memory: if the F1 season had finished in August and the Olympics not been until October, I reckon that Hoy would be unbeatable.
A lot depends on how the two of them are 'marketed' in the run-up to the programme: how well the BBC impresses their achievements upon the neutral. Another factor could be how many other cyclists are included in the shortlist, as you can make excellent cases for Wiggins, Cooke and Cavendish, and a decent one for Romero as well. Would this lead to a splitting of the cyclists' vote (or just five times the expense)?
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Sports Personality of the Year: It's difficult, although I'm originally from Adlington'g home town I'd have to give it to Hoy, the fact is I think he only entered 3 Competitions and ended up winning all 3. Infact what about Theo Walcott? Only 19 yet scored a hattrick against the Team that knocked England out the Euro's last Year, he's already won the young one as well.
Team of the Year: McLaren F1 will be in contention after recovering from the spy Scandal, Manchester United will probably get it because of the bias of BBC towards them despite Fergie's reluctancy to be publicly interviewed. Barsnley knocked both Liverpool and Chelsea out the cup remember but I'd personally give it to the cycling Team.
Manager of the Year: Ron Dennis maybe despite his arrogance, Harry Redknapp perhaps but I'd give it to Fergie, a double in itself is a god achievement and I'm an Arsenal fan.
Overseas Player of the Year: Usain Bolt's done excellent with his records and medals as has Phelps, away from the Olympics and there's both Ronaldo and Fabregas. I'd give it to either Rafael Nadal for clinching top spot in the Tennis Rankings and winning the French Open + Wimbledon in the same Year. Either him or Sashin Tendulkar who broke Lara's record of runs and has hit Century's left right and centre ever since!
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Some interesting comments. my own thoughts:
Ohourugo - definately no, too many questions remain unanswered.
Lets see the realities of some of the achievements this year:
Chris Hoy - 3 Olympic Golds, 3 World Championships, 3 World Cup Championships, 500M World Record , 21 straight victories in the Keirin, unbeaten in all races at the Olympics and World Championships and World Cups this year.
Brad Wiggins - 2 Olympic Golds, 3 world champs, 2 World Cup Championships.
Vicky Pendleton - 3 World Championships, 1 Olympic Gold, 3 World Cup Championships.
Rebecca Romero - 1 world Championship One Olympic Gold.
Nicky Cooke - olympic Gold and World Road Champion FIRST TIME IN HISTORY.
Mark Cavendish - One World Championship, 4 Tour de France stage wins.
As a team - 9 out of 12 Olympic Golds, 15 World Championships, 12 out of 15 Golds at the last Manchester World Cup run.
and that's just our cyclists.
Others, Lewis obviously in any other year he'd be my shoe-in, Rebecca Adlington, Joe Calzaghe, Ben Ainslie.
In the end the reality is likely to be this:
1 Lewis Hamilton/Rebecca Adlington
2 Lewis Hamilton/Rebecca Adlington
3 Chris Hoy
Team
Should be the GB Cycling Team but more likely Man Utd...the Great Unwashed have some strange Ideas
Coach
Should be Dave Brailsford but probably Alex ferguson ... again the Great Unwashed have some strange Ideas
Lifetime
Lots to chose from but the winner should be retired from their major sports.
Their should be a special award this season for the Olympic team.
People have some funny ideas about this award, probably me as well. I couldn't give a damn about football and what has the English cricket team achieved this season apart from some ritual humiliation.
I sincerely hope justice is done and Chris Hoy gets the due plaudits he deserves for the perfect season.......I won't hold my breath.
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Personally I think Chris Hoy or Becky Adlington should win SPOTY. Hamilton would get other chances to win, and for my money his achievement is a lot less given the fact that his car is so much a part of his achievement.
Team of the year- toughie, but I guess the cycling team is the obvious pick.
OPOTY would have to be Phelps. If it isn't there is something wrong with the world.
COTY- I guess Brailsford is the obvious, can't think of too many others, maybe Harry Redknapp- not many English coaches get to win the FA Cup.
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Ordinarily I'd say Chris Hoy, Rebecca Adlington or Mark Cavendish easily. But this has been no ordinary year really, has it?
You have to consider Lewis' a worthy winner. Adlington is right to point out that he has an opportunity every year - but he also had to compete in 18 high profile races over a year. To have won the championship in just his second season at the precocious age of 23 is totally unprecedented.
There will be some who argue the Olympians have trained harder - but F1 is the severest sport on the athlete in the world, to be subjected to 5G for 2 hours means the drivers are the fittest men in any sport. Lewis has been in training for 13 years.
Finally, let's not forget the massive pressure Lewis has been put under since narrowly missing out last year. Some of the criticism he has come in for has been nothing short of ferocious, but he has been cool-headed and polite throughout. Every move has been scutinised, taking nothing away from the Olympians whom most of the population were not familiar with until their wonderful success.
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@103. Cycling is a minority sport but what Hoy did was a fantastic achievement. However, I don't think that who he beat are necessarily household names except the British ones (sure not his fault), second targeted funding gave them an advantage over rival teams and three and most importantly for me the Olympics is not the most important cycling event in the cycling calendar, the Tour de France is.
Hamilton was the youngest WDC champion in history, the first Brit in 12 years to win it (Hill got SPOTY when he won it or was it when he came second - I can't remember) and, controversially for many I know, was the first black man to compete and win it (mixed race for those pedants amongst you) which has broken an important barrier for many in the sport.
Addlington again achieved in a minority sport in swimming which offers three times as many opportunities to win a gold medal as athletics (with the different strokes). A great achievement no doubt but still, for me, beaten by Hamilton in terms of the impact of his achievement.
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Top 3 (no particular order)
Adlington
Calzaghe
Hoy
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Phelps should get overseas personality.
He dominated swimming and won more golds than anyone ever has at an olympics.
Compared to when Federer won (4 grand slam finals, 3 wins) Nadal only won 2 and didnt reach the final in the others. Similarly when Tiger Woods won he completely dominated golf for that year (and the previous few).
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Firstly, what a great year for UK sports, with plenty of worthy contenders. Thank god we don't have Zara Phillips as a potential winner.
As a Welsh F1 fan, I cannot see either Wales winning the Team or Lewis winning the Individual. Wales need top be beating southern hemisphere teams consistently, and Lewis was in a 3 horse race basically, with the 2 Ferrari drivers.
Team of the Year has to be Team GB cycling - completely dominant.
Overseas Personaility has to be Usain Bolt - his achievements were simply astounding.
Individual is difficult - has to go to an Olympian. Murray has improved immensely, but not won a major. Media loves Addlington, who has done the chat shows and all that, even the BBC has photos of her and Hoy for this article. Cavendish/Wiggins are fantastic but never been anywhere in the Tour de France overall classification. Hoy again fantastic, but as the world's best sprinter, he gets several chances of gold in sprinting events. For me its Ainslie or Nicole Cooke, with Nicole just edging it. She's Olympic and World champion and won the womens equivalent of the Tour de France twice. Amazing.
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The whole idea is a farce, Hamilton will win even though he has no right to do so, his team had as much to do with the title as he did and anyone who leaves the country for tax purposes shouldn't even be allowed to be in contention.
Hoy or Adlington should be the only contenders as both did something noone else had previously done (at least in a very, very long time), winning multiple golds at the Olympics.
If anyone else wins it will show just what little regard the voters have for true sporting achievements.
P.S. F1 is NOT a real sport, the car is always at least as important as the driver, something that cannot be said for Olympic events.
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I would be amazed if it is Hamilton. I can't see the general public voting for a multi-millionaire tax exile dating a pop star (not that I have anything against that, but it does make him seem a more remote personality to the rest of us) when there are other legitimate contenders this year.
I think that the Olympics will ultimately go down as the defining event of the year with relatively unexpected success. Therefore the choice will come from the 2 stand outs from that: Hoy and Adlington. I'd like Hoy to get it as a recognition for the pure sporting excellence the cyclists showed. I have never seen a British sporting team ever show up and just crush the opposition flat without any sign of doubt or drama before. It was simply extraordinary and deserves all the recognition at these awards. But I can see Adlington getting it as she is a bit more bubbly than Hoy and her triumph had more drama to it.
Cycling should also get the Coach and Team awards (I think it would be a nice touch, and I'm sure it will happen, for it to be GB Cycling for the Olympics and Paralympics - they were just as dominant as each other).
Overseas must be Usain Bolt, his performances were just thrilling and utterly jaw-droppingly good. My ultimate memory of that Games will be Michael Johnson, the greatest sprinter ever, being so astonished at his 100m performance.
Much as I hate them it seems harsh for the Mancs not to get anything after such a tremendous performance this year but they achieved even greater things just 9 years ago; the dominance of the GB Cyclists was unprecedented for a British team in Olympic competition. Maybe Fergie can get his lifetime achievement award and finally patch up things with the BBC.
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Missed it off the end of my last post.
Young Personality has a good field to it as well, with Daly, Robson and Simmonds as the main contenders. But for achievement Simmonds is one step ahead of the other two; she won on an adult world stage while Tom competed on this stage and Robson won on a junior level. She also did show a real love and joy for sport, which most sportsmen and women have I'm sure, but don't express as well during their competitions.
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HULK HOGAN - It has to be the hulk!
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re format - I agree with the broad idea of a longish preview programme, followed by a vote and a much shorter presentation programme. The "personality" word has long been meaningless, or Dettori would win most years. Why not just replace it?
Re winners - a great year for individual achievement, less so for teams (cycling apart). Two football teams contested the Champions League, but needed penalties to separate them - hardly contenders either one. Cycling should be a lay-down.
I'm amazed people are omitting Andy Murray. I'm no tennis fan, but surely this is one of the hardest world sports to excel in - no divisions or categories like boxing or swimming or athletics, and no team to help like in F1. The kid has done marvellously to get even close to two amazing sportsmen like Federer and Nadal.
Hamilton will probably get it, but in a year when there are so many high achievers, I'd much rather see it go to someone who has had to work just as hard as Hamilton or harder, but will get relatively little reward.
I think Rebecca Adlington deserves her day in the sun, giving us a wonderful golden springboard in the Olympics, or certainly Chris Hoy.
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just reading more posts; who is Mark Cavendish? he obviously gets little publicity; ring for Max Clifford!
Rangers were unlucky to lose the UEFA Cup final? Really? I must have watched a different game. It was the police and residents of Manchester who were unlucky to get their "fans"
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Do you think the voters will be split between Hoy and Adlington plus other Olympic winners meaning Lewis gets the award.
He might not seem that popular to some but he does have a lot supporters as well and more people probably watch/enjoy F1 than cycling/swimming.
Will the alleged comments by Becky Adlington about how she felt that the Olympic athletes were more worthy of the award than Lewis because he can win the Championship each year than than a Gold medal or 2 every 4 years affect voting/
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The award is named Sports Personality of the Year, so surely the "Personality" part of the title will eliminate Lewis Hamilton. If he is chosen by the vast number of petrolheads who find pitstops exciting, perhaps the award should be renamed Sports Technician of the Year.
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It would be a travesty in an Olympic year for an olympic athlete not to win the TSPOY given their window of opportunity is only once every 4 years.
Remembering that Kelly Holmes was made a Dame after her two gold medals in Athens and Damon Hill only received an OBE after winning F1 in 96 you can see what the establishment thinks of the two achievements. I am sure Chris Hoy will be properly recognised on the New Years Honours List and quite rightly so, since he not only won 3 Golds but was a stalwart of the cycling team.
During the F1 season there were Grand Prixs where McClaren made significant and costly errors but ulitimately overall reliability over other teams ensured a 'one' point victory. Chris Hoy had no such cushion, every race was win or lose and overall in 2008 he won. If he doesn't win in 2008 then his window of opportunity has gone whilst Lewis Hamilton will have many more chances to win this 'public' accolade. Chris Hoy is the real McCoy!
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Thanks: quite a response - and some very interesting thoughts.
Let me pick up some of the main questions raised so far.
On whether the candidates all get equal time during the show: what we try to do is be fair to everyone, but this is a different kind of programme to Strictly Come Dancing or the X Factor where what matters most is the performance on the night.
In Sports Personality, as many of the posts above confirm, many people have already made their minds up before the event. We help that by our preview coverage of the list of nominees - and there will, for instance, be nightly features on The One Show at 7pm on BBC1 as well as items on radio and online.
So what we find is that the voting is usually relatively consistent through the programme. And obviously the programme has to be an editorial review of the year, too, as well as an awards show.
On the charges for phone calls: we don't make a profit from the voting, and the tariff is the lowest possible. You can read our guidelines here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/advice/interactivity/code/
On a number of questions about whether the British cycling team is eligible for team of the year - yes it is. Our guidance is that the people making the nominations can choose Team GB or they can select individual sports.
Thanks again for the feedback. More from me later too.
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David Coulthard as Retiree of the Year: Left F1 with over 550 points in about 220 races, scored 13 Victories, 12 Pole Positions, 2nd in the World Championship only to Michael Schumacher.
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The way you're doing it now, and have done it for the last two years, makes for a far more transparent and thus better vote than was once the case, even if the show isn't as much to my taste as once it was. (I would prefer the show to be longer, especially considering how many more awards there are than there used to be, and contain more sport and less fluff.)
"We're currently inviting nominations for a shortlist from newspaper sports editors across the UK - from national broadsheets and tabloids along with some selected regional titles and magazines"
Which ones? Why have they been selected? For instance, why didn't The Sun and The Daily Star get nominations last year when they did in 2006? On circulation grounds they could make a strong case for having their say, as could the similarly disenfranchised Metro. Regional publications tend to skew strongly regionally; I would like to see regional voices from the North-East and the North-West represented in a way where they haven't in the past. Likewise, I still don't see why the likes of Nuts or Zoo ever received votes.
I criticise the process harshly in part because I respect it so much. (You are getting better; taking nominations from The Voice is a step forward for inclusiveness.) Every year the list of ten is criticised by some for its omissions - for instance, I would be pleasantly surprised to see Paralympian representation among the final ten. This is clearly not the BBC's fault, but a shortcoming on the part of those who have made the nominations. It would be useful to know who had nomination power so that they might be reminded of some less deserving candidates.
My outsider choice as someone far more deserving of a nomination than likely to receive one is Ben Pridmore from Nottingham who recently beat over forty competitors from four continents to win the World Memory Championship in Bahrain. It's a hugely impressive performance. I can run 100m in maybe twenty seconds, or ride a velodrome at a sixth of the speed of our gold medallists, and I could spar with Joe Calzaghe for maybe fifteen or twenty seconds. (If you include the ten-count.) I can't even begin to emulate his memory feats, though.
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At 1:52pm on 11 Nov 2008, clartmaster wrote:
Surely Cardiff City should be in contention for team of the year. It was a massive feat for them to make the FA Cup final, far more impressive than the Wales Grand Slam; winning a tournament of six teams? Hardly the achievement of the century is it?
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Just a thought:
Cardiff City - 5 wins, 1 loss
Wales Rugby - 5 wins, 0 losses
Personally I would like to see Adlington win it. A lot of people have said they think Hamilton will win it but they're backing Hoy, and I've yet to see anyone say they'd vote for Hamilton... Odd...
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There can only be one winner this year - the guy who should have won it last year and that's Lewis Hamilton!
If the whole Welsh nation hadn't voted for Joe Calzaghe, Lewis would have won it last year. Now he's champion he deserves it even more!
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If I had my way for the main award it would be.
3rd Nicole Cooke
2nd Ben Ainslie
1st Chris Hoy
Winning 3 gold medals at the Olympics something which a Brit hasn't done for a 100 years, in three events which aren't your strongest. And also winning two world titles. Puts him easily at the top this year.
For the Team Award I'd give to the UK cycling team they were just so dominant.
Also nominated for this would be Man U and Durham CCC, who deserve some recognition for winning the county championship despite only being a Championship side for a relatively short period of time
For the Overseas, I can't understand at all why people are suggesting Nadal. He won two Grand Slams, which is good but not great. Someone seems to pretty much win two Grand Slams every year. So it wasn't a stand out season at all for him compared to others. Winning two Golf Majors was a little bit more impressive, although again that's something that happens quite frequently too. So I'd rule out Harrington as well.
If one of those two does win, it will once again show the bias the BBC have towards those two sports, as its one of the awards the BBC gets to choose, and tennis players of golfers seem to win nearly every year. Sometimes for just just winning one grandslam.
Bolt should win it for me, his performaces were just awe inspiring. Phelps must be a close second. Perhaps even a joint award for them like Holyfield and Johnson got just over a decade ago. The rest of my nominees would be Tendulkar, Rossi, Loeb and Anderson Silva, who just dominated his weight division in MMA, destroying everyone who faced him, making himself the best p4p fighter on the planet. All those people for me are way above Harrison and Nadal.
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People shouldn't be brainwashed into the idea that Hamilton 'will win' simply because he's the bookies favourite. The bookmakers have got things like this seriously wrong over the years quite often.
Hamilton's best chance is that the BBC will be biased towards him due to their F1 rights.
I think that most people watching at home will want it to be awarded for the best sporting achievement and vote for Chris Hoy who I think will win.
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If I could decide the results myself then it would be:
1st) Chris Hoy
2nd) Lewis Hamilton
3rd) Rebecca Addlington
Being a realist I think Lewis will win because the person that usually wins is the person who has been in the news the most. After all, F1 is extremely popular on TV whereas cycling and swimming is less popular.
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For me Chris Hoy should win, but like many of you I think Hamilton will get it as its fresher in most people's memories. My vote is for Rebecca Romero though - to win two medals in two different sports is beyond belief and worthy of recognition. Team of the year has got to be the cyclists.
The overseas award has got to go to usain bolt for me - the man is a legend and a true PERSONALITY, which is after all what this is supposed to be about - however i fear Nadal will get that one.
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Cavendish has got to be on the shortlist. A complete outrage if he isn't
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Aren't we all forgetting Padraig Harrington. By far the most successful player in golf this year. First manto win the Open consecutively in ages and also first european to win the USPGA
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As a cyclist and long-time cycling fan I?m naturally biased. I have longed for the chance of voting for a cyclist with a real chance of winning. Never since the days of Tom Simpson in the 1960?s has British Cycling had such a huge profile. Chris Hoy, Bradley Wiggins, Victoria Pendleton, Nicole Cooke are all World and Olympic champions and all would normally walk away with the award. Not to mention Mark Cavendish winning four stages of the Tour de France. In any other year all would normally make the final ten AND be a favorite. But what if they do? Unfortunately only cycling fans will vote for a cyclist ? and we are not in the majority. If we have five cyclists to vote for our vote will be fragmented. There are twenty million drivers out there and most of them will vote for Lewis Hamilton ? and I don?t mean to diminish his achievement which is fantastic.
Let the powers that be choose only one cyclist for the final ten so that we have a fair chance of success. I don?t think the others I have mentioned would object to Chris Hoy being their representative. As for the team and coach awards ? I think they are fairly obvious ? don?t you?
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At 7:37pm on 11 Nov 2008, george_the_second wrote:
A lot of people have said they think Hamilton will win it but they're backing Hoy, and I've yet to see anyone say they'd vote for Hamilton... Odd...
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Odd? Not really. Public fora such as this tend to attract comments from those that are not happy with the way things are going. So, most people seem to think Hamilton will win. Why would those that will vote for Hamilton need to comment?
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Lifetime achievement ought to go to Muhammad Ali but he did get the sports personality of the century in 1999 so maybe that's not such a good idea.
Seve Ballesteros, Michael Jordan, Jonah Lomu, David Campese all feature in sports that have never had a SPOTY Liftetime achievement winner. Michael Schumacher's a bit too young for it, but maybe Stirling Moss ought to be in with a shout...
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Overseas personality ought to be Bolt or Phelps. It'll probably be Nadal, but it ought to be one of the Olympics stars and it's 50/50 as to which one of them should win it - I'd favour Bolt myself.
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firstly F1 is a very difficult and skilled sport ptherwise everybody who can drive would be in it.
yes it does depend on the car a lot but look where kovalinen finished. so he still did well good.
i think ben ainsly has done it as he has been overlooked so many times and has been consistently good for years.
he should at lewast be in the top three with hoy and lewis hamilton or adlington.
mark cavinsih should be in the top 10 but he did well but not for sports personality cos he can do that everyyear where olyimpans only have a chance every 4 years.
team should be cycling.
overseas should be phelps or bolt. too close to call
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The word "personality" has various meanings. Please stop the comments about this person or that person having "no personality". It's really nauseous. Look up the word in a good dictionary and you'll see that this is perfectly good usage, and there is no need to change the name to "Sports Achievement of the Year", or anything else.
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"Aren't we all forgetting Padraig Harrington."
I presume you mean for the overseas award. He's not British (though technically you don't have to be British, there have only ever been two exceptions).
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As a programme from the BRITISH Broadcasting Corporation, I'm sure there would be no problems awarding Overseas Personality to SCOTTISh Andy Murray.
If you take a poll from this blog, Chris Hoy would be the clear winner, so why does everyone keep saying Hamilton will win?????
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My personality of the year would go like this....
1. Hamilton
2. Hoy
3. Murray/Calzaghe (can't decide!)
Team of the year has to be Man United. To win the league and the European Cup in the same season in the modern era is a truly magnificent achievement although this won't happen as its fashionable to slate football at the moment so will probably go to the GB Olympic team (not to deride from their achievement though).
And before people start mentioning the Wales Rugby Union team, until they start beating the southern hemisphere big three, no chance!
Coach - Got to be Ferguson but again won't happen due to the reasons stated above.
Overseas - despite the achievements of the likes of Bolt, Nadal, Ronaldo, Tendulkar, Phelps etc i would have to go for Padraig Harrington, unless your Tiger Woods to win two of Golfs Majors in the same year is almost unheard of, not to mention it being back to back Opens. People should not underestimate what a truly magnificent achievement this is.
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Love how this award stirs up so much emotion evident in the posts so far.
Two things occur :
How about creating a separate award for 'Sporting Moment of the year' ? Might defuse some of the (mostly tedious) comment every year centred around whether the main winner has a 'personality' or not by recognising something that genuinely captured the public imagination.
Also, I think the main award has to go to someone participating in a sport that the masses actually care about for more than 10 minutes every 4 years.
How many genuine sporting enthusiasts (and I'm not talking just footbal fans) ever talk about cycling or smimming ? Why don't TV rights for these sports get bought for hundreds of milllions - 'cos nobody's interested ! Fine they'll swell with pride when it served up every 4 years. Don't mean to diminish the achievments of Hoy/Adlington, it's not their fault they happen to excel at a sport that I wouldn't switch the TV over from a Fools & Horses repeat to see.
Personally find Formula 1 dull but 'moment of the year' was undoubtedly the Ferrari garage at the end of the Brazilian Grand Prix - priceless.
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I think post #8 is the best way of dealing with the problem of shortlisted candidates for the top prize having an advantage if their profile is shown earlier on in the show.
However, that will then create the problem of thousands of people sitting in an arena in Liverpool waiting around while people at home vote and then watch another programme for an hour before going back to the live proceedings.
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If you're going to shortlist one cyclist (a good idea IMO) I'd prefer it to be Nicole Cooke. Her 2008 achievements stand comparison with all the other candidates and her earlier career has not gained the attention it deserves.
Incidentally, it seems a shame that Victoria Pendleton would miss out to Chris Hoy: she seems equally dominant in the sprints, and it's hardly her fault that the Olympic programme denied her the extra golds that would probably have been hers.
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My Shortlist
Individual
Lewis Hamilton
Andy Murray
Joe Calzaghe
Kevin Pieterson
Ben Ainslie
Rebecca Addlington
Theo Walcott
David James
Ronnie O'Sullivan
Ian Poulter
Team
Manchester Utd
Wales Rugby Union
Coach
Fabio Capello
Sir Alex Ferguson
Enzo Calzaghe
Overseas SPOTY
No doubt it should be Christiano Ronaldo (42 goals from midfield and best player in the world)
however, Padraig Harrington should get a mention also.
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This has been mentioned before in the blog- is it Sports PERSONALITY of the year or Sports(WO)MAN of the year?
If it was done on personality alone, then you could argue that someone who hasn't achieved much this year may deserve it- someone entertaining.
If it was done on achievement alone then Chris Hoy would probably be the favourite.
It's obviously a case of getting the balance right and I think Joe was a good choice last year and Flintoff was a good choice in 2005. I don't know how Phillips won last year or Radcliffe in 2002, the winner should be a champion with the best/most inspiring personality.
Hamilton was a champion and despite claims he is arrogant (i think he is more just an honest, straight-talker) he is a very good role model for younger people. That's not to say Hoy isn't a good role model- it would be a disaster if GB cycling didn't win the team award. McLaren F1 team would also be a good choice for the team category but I think that is much more engineering than sports teamwork.
As impressive an achievement as Adlington's was, you put her next to cycling legend Hoy and you see that Adlington is by no means a swimming LEGEND.
I'm a huge fan of Andy Murray and think he is a very exciting tennis player but not a person with an excting personality (although he is acquiring a bit of press charm).
Back to Hamilton, whoever says him living in Switzerland should eclude him as being British is mad- I suppose these people think Cristiano Ronaldo and Robinho should therefore play for England and also be up for the award.
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#144,
Harrington is (Southern) Irish not British, although probably a good shout for the foreign award
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For what it's worth I'd like to throw in a name: Chrissie Wellington.
She has once again won the Ironman World Championships for the 2nd year in a row. Whilst I am realistic that she will never win SPOTY as Long distance triathlon is not a mainstream sport I'd just like to point out what exactly it is that she has won:
2.4mile open water swim, 112mile bike, and a marathon to finish, which she ran in 2:58:35 after getting a puncture on the bike which put her 10 mins down.
She doesn't have the aid of a team or any external support during the day, except some feed stations, yet she finished in the heat of Hawaii off her own sheer determination and guts.
It really knarks me when the likes of the footballers and those being paid millions a year claim to have 'worked hard' when they don't know what a hard days work is!
http://www.tri247.com/article_4162_Hawaii%3A+Alexander+and+Wellington.html?region_id=&category=long_distance
...to find out more.
Being a realist, Hoy for SPOTY, Brailsford for Coach, GB Cycling for Team, Phelps for International (don't kid yourselves it'll be anyone else!).
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my selection -
Sports personality - Ben Ainsle - for longivity(4 olympics(3golds)), excellence, and all round commitment
Team of the year - Cycling or sailing olympic teams or Mclaren f1 team
Coach of the year - cycling coach, ron dennis, rebecca (swimming) coach
overseas winner - messi, shown what a class player he is
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Voice of Adam wrote:
"Cavendish/Wiggins are fantastic but never been anywhere in the Tour de France overall classification."
But in the case of Cavendish he's a sprinter. In the last 200m of a flat stage he is faster than anyone else in the world including Armstrong at his peak, Contador, Sastre etc, when you add in the mountains he obviously would fall well off the pace, but then its not his job to win those stages. Its like saying Usain Bolts is great in the 1&200m but he's never won the decathlon or marathon so shouldn't be considered for the Overseas prize.
Cavendish will win the Green Sprinters Jersey one day and for him and his sprint rivals that is the biggest prize in cycling. Maybe in doing that, then he'll get the credit he deserves and be a genuine contender for SPOTY.
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In an Olympic year - a mega-successful Olympic year - it would be scandalous if the winner didn't come from one of our successes in Beijing. Hamilton is favourite solely because
(a) a lot of boring blokes watch Formula One
(b) the event goes on for months and months, ensuring many more pages of newspaper coverage and regular news reports
But he shouldn't win, because
(a) he almost didn't win, despite having the best car
(b) he drives a car, which is far less physically demanding than riding a bike or swimming 800m
(c) he doesn't have a personality
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As for Young SPOTY. One candidate I'm please to see in the short list is Scott Redding. Most people won't have heard of him as he's a bike racer.
This year at the age of 15 he became the youngest rider ever to win a GP race and he did it on home soil in the 125cc race at Donington Park. This is 2-years younger than the greatest bike racer of all time, Valentino Rossi. He was also Rookie of the Year in his category and did it all on a 2-year old bike.
All that said he'll probably be overlooked as bike racing isn't in the public eye
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Lewis Hamilton will get SPOTY
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halfwheeler, you seem rather preoccupied the premium rate number thing. "o898 - etc"
Erm... the BBC doesn't do premium rate telephony any more - not after all the scandals last year. If Strictly Come Dancing is anything to go by, SPOTY will have calls capped at 25p.
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I don't suppose that there is any chance that the BBC will be showing a sports review of the year this year (possibly separate from the SPOTY shindig).
I can't be the only one who misses it.
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Nicole Cooke: Road cycling Olympic Gold AND World Champion in 2008, in one of the highest-participation sports in at least Europe, if not the world. No British male or female has EVER achieved that.
Contrast this with Hamilton: a reasonably-good-so-far driver in the best car, but who is seriously error-prone, temperamentally suspect, and has yet to live up to the ridiculous hype. Where would Hamilton have finished if he was driving a Force India, or indeed anything other than a McLaren or a Ferrari?
If he's the hot favourite, I think that the MP4/23 should be shortlisted. It's a better contender, as it would probably have won the F1 championship with any of Massa / Alonso / Kubica / Raikkonen onboard ..
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I think you need perspective. Adlington would be a relatively poor choice in an event, swimming, where she can choose which of 12 or so individual golds to aim for. Adlington won the 400/800 free not the 100/200 or any blue riband event - arguably the least competitive. In a normal year she'd be on the short list for solid reasons but this year we are spoilt for choice (I will be quite happy if she wins it or anyone I mention BTW)
Equally whilst he had one more gold Hoy surely is shaded by Wiggins a double Olympic winner in the blue riband of indoor cycling. A similar case could be made for Romero. Arguably Cooke is better than all the track cyclists in terms of world profile and competitiveness of event - ditto Cavendish - they had more competition.
Although I personally would not give it to Hamilton it is hard to argue that it is not magnificent and the peak of F1. I don't know if like Barack Obama (private schools, ivy league college) his background is obfuscated for the sake of a story line but he deserves a lot of praise for being single minded and succeeding in a tough sport where unless you are rich you only get breaks if you have the talent.
Arguably Calzaghe beating Hopkins or Ohuruogu was also world leading in much more competitive events (OK boxing is questionable and the ages of top fighters at higher weights tends to suggest it is not).
If personality counts then Adlington, Hoy Wiggins have the advantage - unless Calzaghe's new persona counts despite it being pretty boorish and self regarding.
Anyway my short list then would be Wiggins, Cooke, Hamilton, Ohuruogu and Calzaghe. (I can't pick more than 1 indoor cyclist! but obviously am not forgetting Pendelton, Hoy and Romero).
Nicole Cooke despite my slight negative on women's sport being as competitive (much of the world still unfortunately discourages competition among women and participation even in other countries is not always as strong) as a World and Olympic Champion in road cycling wins it for me. Having only 1 realistic medal to go for should not count against her.
Anyway she won't win it but what a year that good choices will not even place.
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PurpleDome...the same could be said that cycling and swimming is watched by very few though and yes you have a point to say F1 has far more coverage but that is because more people are interested in it.
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Roger - please can you advise when the independently verified results for 2006 will be issued. We all saw the scores on the doors last year so would like to see previous year's results as well.
I am deeply suspicous as this was in the midst of much of the telephone voting controversy so it would good to confirm that Calzaghe finished behind Zara, Darren Clarke and Beth Tweddle.
As for this year if it is not Calzaghe - though would love to see him win again, then Becky Adlington, Chris Hoy or Ben Ainslie would be worthy winners. Multiple medal winners in sports which demand the greatest physical punishment (other than boxing).
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The 'team' GB should not win the team award as the Olympics is not a team sport. For the same reason, the cycling team shouldn't win either, unless they win for winning the single team event. This would not be fair to the genuine team sports out there where a number of individuals perform greater than the sum of their parts.
Cycling is an individual sport. Just because they were called 'team GB' in some inappropriate americanism of a moment by someone who should know better, doesn't make them a genuine team. This is even more the case when you consider the athletics 'team'. The relay squad is the only genuine athletics team in the olympics. That just leaves the Hockey, netball, handball etc.etc.etc. teams.
The outstanding domestic team of the last year was the Wales Rugby team.
The outstanding foreign sporting individual could go to any number of people. I would suggest Usian Bolt, but i'm guessing Phelps will get it. Pretty good acheivement that one, but really, it's only one discipline, not 8. If it wasn't for the myriad of different races in the pool..... Still, Not something I could do.
Coach of the year.... the Cycling coach, forget his name.. Good skills there
Lifetime acheivement award... no idea.
The individual award should go to someone who has genuinely acheived something of note. There is no poiint guessing though, Lewis will get it although he doesn't really deserve it. I think Paula Radcliffe ought to get the chance at winning SPOTY again. Fractured bone yet still ran in the marathon. That takes guts.
But my vote would go to the Athlete who has won gold in two separate disciplines and i'm ashamed to say that I can't for the life of me remember her name...
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"If he's the hot favourite, I think that the MP4/23 should be shortlisted."
Despite the fact that McLaren never won the WCC? Seems a bit silly to me. Most F1 fans agree Ferrari had the best car and also Hamilton beat Alonso last year.
Hamilton deserves SPOTY. I don't think he will get it just as he didn't get it last year but for me he deserves it. He is the youngest WDC ever, and the first Brit since 96 to win it. He also won it despite the racist behaviour of some fans.
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"I don't know if like Barack Obama (private schools, ivy league college) his background is obfuscated for the sake of a story line "
Not sure what you mean there. I don't think either Obama or Hamilton's background have been obfiscated. Off-topic I think most people are happy to have an educated president and I don't think they were voting for an underpriveleged rags to riches story. Hamilton's is not exactly a rags to riches story but there is no doubt his father worked hard to help get him where he is now. Different stories both irrelevant to their overall success or representation of it.
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Ohurogu will surely still never receive enough public backing to place in this event. I'm not one of the nay-sayers who would hammer down her achievements but I think the cloud of suspiscion still hangs over her sufficiently in the minds of the masses to exclude her from the main prizes. However, I'd be happy to be proved wrong.
I like Lewis H but can't really bear for a car driver to win in a year where we've seen such Herculean efforts from so many proper sports people. I hope it'll be Hoy or Adlington, but I suspect Lewis will pinch it.
Even the overseas personality category is the strongest we've seen for years with Bolt, Phelps, Nadal and Harrington all worthy winners. I reckon Usain will get it, but I think Harrington deserves it, as there's no more challenging sport than golf and given that 50 people in any field are contenders, to win two Majors on the bounce is legendary stuff.
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Overseas - Valentino Rossi.
Just won his 6th world title at the top level (8th in total). Won more top level races than anyone in history (71), more podiums than anyone in history (115), record for the most podiums, points and fastest laps in one season.
Also his last 3 world titles were on a machine that only one other rider has managed to win arace on. No special McLaren needed here, just sublime talent. The guy is still only 29! It should be no contest but again since Barry Sheene the UK fails to notice bike racing.
Oh and unlike F1 drivers he has a real personality
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The point is number 25 is that Wales did win the Grand slam, an international competition and Cardiff City didn't win anything.
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At 09:06am on 12 Nov 2008, PurpleDome wrote:
Blah, blah, blah ...
-------
"Hamilton is favourite solely because
(a) a lot of boring blokes watch Formula One"
---
Come on, you sound like a boring bloke, get with the programme, why aren't you watching Formula One?
"But he shouldn't win, because
(a) he almost didn't win"
---
Better to give it to someone who almost didn't lose?
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I think it's a disgrace that Lewis Hamilton is getting so much negative attention from the British public. So what if he lives in Switzerland, and for those saying he has no personality are idiots. Sport nowadays is full of cliches with predictable post match blurbs of "As long as the team won I'm happy", at least Lewis offers a bit of honesty to sport. Like Andy Murray, Lewis says what he feels and if it upsets the traditionalists so be it.
Anyone who does get the award will be a worthy winner. Those who don't, should still receive applause and commendation for their incredible achievements, instead of being lambasted for being "arrogant". It's grat that people like Hamilton, Murray and the entire olympic team always make me feel proud to be British...but a shame that the narrow minded, whiny public make me feel ashamed.
Personally I would love to see Chris Coy get it, I've never seen anyone so dominant in any form of sporting competition. He was incredible.
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Sports personality of the year has got to go to Lewis Hamilton. He won six grand prix this season (and yes I am counting Spa as a win because quite frankly it was).
He also copped alot of flak from the media throughout the season, was given countless penalties on the track and racially abused by Spanish F1 fans.
Even during the last lap of the Brazillian GP when he looked down and out he kept pushing and never gave up.
Although what Chris Hoy achieved at the Olympics was very commendable it is nothing special. He is not the first athelete to win 3 gold medals at the olympics and certainly won't be the last.
Lewis Hamilton on the other hand is the youngest ever and 1st black F1 world champion, a feat that has NEVER been achieved before.
Coach of the year has got to go to Ron Dennis for the way he has bounced back from last years Spygate case.
Many people were calling for his head but he answered his critics the best way possible - guiding his star pupil to the the World Drivers Title.
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The bottom line is you can make a case for and against the likes of hamilton, murray, adlington, calzaghe etc for the award till the cows come home.
And you can guarantee after whoever wins it people will agree and more than likely disagree.
All I have to say is, I hope the BBC haven't got the same people judging the team award this year as last year, giving it to the England rugby team was a disgrace.
Bolt, Nadal or Phelps are equally deserving of the overseas award, I'd go for Bolt.
With a great deal of bias I'd go for Wales rugby for the team. Man Utd have vast sums of money to buy players unlike a rugby team and to come from losing to Fiji last Autumn to winning the Grand Slam in a few months is an incredible turnaround.
The coach award should go to Dave Brailsford.
My vote for the main award will go to Nicole Cooke. Don't get me wrong, the other contenders have done superbly but to ride for so many hours in one race and have enough energy to put in a sprint finish is amazing.
And to do that in the Olympics and World Championships says it all.
My top 10 in no order is:
Cooke,
Calzaghe,
Murray,
Hamilton,
Hoy,
Adlington,
Ainslie,
Shane Williams,
Cavendish,
Ohurougu
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Pity we can't vote by internet. I would like to nominate Mr. Max Mosley...
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Roger - can you explain which editors are chosen to give their top 10s?
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This year's sporting calendar was headed by the Olympics. Nothing else compared. Chris Hoy was the top achiever and Team GB performed fantastically. F1 cannot compete in terms of sporting endeavour.
The phone vote will be a lottery. If Chris Hoy and team GB don't win then the BBC will have done a massive disservice to the UK's true sportsmen and women.
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phelps for averseas
8 golds
how can u argue with that
better than that golfer guy
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I hope SPOTY 2008 is better then the shambles of SPOTY 2007.
I hope one of the Olympic gold Medalists wins the award like Chris Hoy or Rebecca Adlington.
I can see Lewis winning it but something in me thinks he wont.
Remember he was favourite last year.
Congrats to Ellie Simmonds, she is Young SPOTY contender an I hope CBBC vote for her.
Also I am still annoyed that the ceremony is going to Liverpool and Im sure the Liverpool Echo Arena lives up to its name...it wont be sold out and you will have thousands of empty seats...Me thinks keeping it slap bang in the centre of the country in Birmingham would be better and using Liverpool's European Capital of Culture for 2008 is no excuse to move it up there for this season!
Also I question your stance Mr Mosey, you forgot that website users should vote on one award rather then letting 3 of the awards go to Newspaper editors/Journalists.
I think Overseas will be Usain Bolt and not Michael Phelps !
I hope British Cycling Team and their Coach win Coach and Team of the Year.
I hope the BBC would add another award like Moment of the Year with the award going to the person involved chosen by the BBC Sport Team out of 10 top sporting moments of 2008.
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At the end of the day, Hamilton performed week-in week-out (despite a few dissapointing races) and kept British audiences entertained for 3 hours every/ every other weekend from March until October/November.
Adlington/Hoy were in the audiences spotlight for a combined total of about 20 minutes over 2 weeks.
As big a fan as I am of the Olympics, sports such as cycling and swimming are rarely televised because the broadcasters know nobody would watch them if it wasn't the Olympics.
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I would like to voice my comments about the Team Award, you mention the word "winners", so tell me why the so called expert panel of judges last year decided to give the team award to a team that actually won zero, nothing, not a single trophy, how did the England Rugby Team that won nothing win the award, when let's say the Track Cycling team won almost everything in sight, even almost a year later I am still disgusted by this decision, the so called panel of experts should not be rewarding losers.
By the way, I am not some cycling nutter, I don't even ride a bike, but even I can appreciate what they did.
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Jordan D is quite right in the very first comment - everything depends on the running order on the night. There is no way that Joe Calzaghe would have won last year if he had been featured later in the show (and Hamilton had been earlier). I'm not saying Joe didn't deserve to win, just that fewer people would have considered voting for him.
As for this year, the SPOTY roll of honour should be (although barring miracles won't actually be)
1. Hoy (3 golds in 1 Olympics for 1st time in 100 years, 4 golds in all)
2. Adlington (2 golds and a world record)
3. Wiggins (another double gold medalist plus WR, 3 golds in all)
Overseas personality: Usain Bolt (a great athlete and a real character too)
Young Personality: Jason Kenny
Team: GB Cycling (not only dominating the Olympics, doing it all over again at the World Cup cycling last month)
Coach: Dave Brailsford
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Whoever wins this year can we please have less chat and more video 'review'. I've become rather bored by recent SPOTY programmes, tuning in at the end to see who gets the award. In days gone by, I recall reliving sporting moments from throughout the year with highlight after highlight of great events. Perhaps the BBC no longer covers the range of sports it once did but part of the magic was seeing those great moments again and feeling the hair on the back of my neck stand up as I watched them, full of joy and, in some cases, trgaedy. Less chat please, fewer interviews and more SPORT thank you very much.
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One of the things that impresses me about Hoy as a sportsman is what he said about training - it transpires all sport and beyond.
He said that if he'd missed just one practice he would have gone to the starting line with a doubt, a doubt that he'd not done all he could to prepare. What if the other guy and never missed training - would he =have an edge ? By being dedicated and never skipping training he started with absolutely no doubts in his mind that he had done all he could to be the best he could be.
This is a philosophy that Phelps also alluded to when interviewed on the BBC before the Olympics. He said he wasn't aiming for a set number of medals. Luck and chance played too much part in sport for him to be certain of winning. What he wanted to do was come away from the games with no regrets, knowing that he had done everything he could and if luck had gone with him or against him then so be it. Knowing that he had done all he could and given his all was good enough for him.
I hope that these sentiments come through during the SPOTY programme because, in an age of the vacuous celebrity, it's important to remember that the really important things in life are achieved through hard work, talent and dedication.
As a wise old man once told me - you only get out of life what you put into it, and Phelps and Hoy exemplify the Rudyard Kipling line ... "If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two Impostors just the same; Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it."
Hoy and Phelps are inspiring, not by their results but by an attitude that is so lacking in so many these days.
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O.K. Let us all end this silliness and establish some facts.
"Sport" in it's first meaning is defined in the Collins English Dictionary as "An individual or team or group activity pursued for exercise or pleasure often involving the testing of physical capabilities "
F1 is therefore a sport.
The comments regarding Lewis Hamilton (or any of the other contenders for that matter) as having no personality are simply offensive. We all have personalities by definition.
All are contenders.
All are worthy.
Exercising prejudice has it seems become the national "sport". Can we not just celebrate a year of achievement as a nation in a fair and reasonable way.
The thing that separates the people on the list and those commenting is the contenders having dignity and being the best in their field.
Support your sport by all means and may the best person win!!!!!!!
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More responses:
To #193 and others: yes, F1 is a sport. For the record - and we're always interested in the precedents - an F1 driver hasn't won since Damon Hill in 1996. But motor-racing had three winners in 5 years: Damon in '94 and well as '96, and Nigel Mansell in '92.
By the way, we have no bias ourselves towards F1 because of regaining the rights. As I said in the original blog, it's the newspaper panel who make the nominations - and the public who choose the winner.
#186: The Liverpool Echo Arena is already sold out for the event. The main batch of tickets went in 45 minutes.
#183: The editors are from the main UK daily and Sunday newspaper, with the additions of some Scottish, Welsh, Northern Irish and English regional titles. The full list will be published when we announce the nominations. Any variation between years is usually because not all choose to vote.
#171: We announced the 2006 votes at the time on this website and in my blog:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/sporteditors/2006/12/the_morning_after_the_night_be_1.html
#158 and others: I always go for the Oxford English Dictionary on these occasions (available at www.oed.com) and "personality" has a number of meanings of which "celebrity" is only one. I take the award as being for the sportsman or woman of the year, and "personality" is just a neater way of saying that.
But back to the precedents - that's what it's been called since 1954!
And thanks again for all the comments.
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Maybe the only contenders for "home" awards should be people domiciled in the UK who have all their income assessed for UK Income Tax.
This point may have already been made, I have not read all the comments so far.
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Mr Mosey,
assuming that SPOTY continues to be an awards show, rather than a review of the year (and it seems that is the path that has been chosen), is there any chance of the BBC producing a proper reviews show?
Even if you didn't show it in primetime it would atleast placate those of us who really enjoyed the old Sports Review of the Year, but find SPOTY pretty much unwatchable.
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Hi Roger,
Thanks as always for taking the time to write the article, read the comments and post replies.
The only thing I would ask of the programme is that it offers more of a review of the sporting action of the year rather than the more feature-based pieces of the last few years.
The last half lap of the Brazilian Grand Prix (but without David Croft's awful commentary), some of the Olympic action, the best tries of the Six Nations, the great goals of the season will all tell the story of the year much better than obscure, moody, over-edited pieces.
Regarding the awards, I don't mind who wins, but I think it would be fairer to open the voting lines only after all the contenders have been profiled.
The suggestion by an earlier poster of a results show later on after the main show was a great idea. Maybe the first part of the show could be a real review and all off tape so you don't have the issue of trying to keep your celebrity asudience there for too long.
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I agree - Cycling team for Team of the year
What about Ellie Simmonds ?
What a fantastic personality and a fantastic achievement .
And Louis Smith getting Bronze in Gymnastics was a fantastic achievement
The only trouble with restricting the choice to 10 it does not give all the leesser sports their day in the sun - Hopefully the show will celebrate allthe successes not just the top 10
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I agree with most of these comments, why not have a seperate program profiling all of the contenders prior to the show.
Maybe a pre vote, allow the public to choose the final 10 from a field of, maybe 30, as there is such strong field of contenders for this year.
and why has Valentino Rossi never won overseas personality, he has a BIG personality has broken records this year, and a motorcyclists has never won!
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190: Kenny isn't young enough to win the Young Personality.
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As much as I love my boxing Joe does not deserve to win the award this year. he has beaten two fighters, one who is 42 and the other who is 39. The award should be between Hoy and Ainslie but Hamilton will win it, whether it is justified or otherwise.
My only concern for the BBC, is who are they going to give their annual tennis (aka overseas sports personality) award to this year. Bolt doesn't deserve it as he only smashed the 100 and 200 wr and won gold, Phelps doesnt deserve it as he only won a suitcase of gold medals. Hopefully they will see sense and give it to Nadal.
Yes I know sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.
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SPOTY
1 Ben Ainslie
2. Chris Hoy
3. Rebecca Addlington
Reason 3 golds and a silver from 4 Olympics what does Ben need to do, win the World Championship? Oops he's done that!
Team of the year Yngling Girls awesome performance and a true team!
Coach of the year Stephen Park
Young SPOTY Ellie Simmonds
Overseas Usain Bolt anybody who wins whilst looking that cool has personality!
Sorry Lewis and the footballers you're surely great but you'll get your chance for the next three, our Olympians won't and do it for much less cash.
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It has to be Lewis Hamilton this year.
Over the course of the F1 season he has had many ups and downs and just managed to get the points he needed over his rival at the last corner of the final lap of the final race of the season.
He's had some very dubious decisions against him, racist crowds to deal with not to mention a few of his fellow drivers getting their noses put out of joint by the rookie who drives to win.
I'm not taking it away from the other contenders as they all deserve to be recognised. But to do what Hamilton has done - the youngest ever F1 champion and the first black champion is a massive achievement
He's a true champion
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Between:-
Rebecca Adlington
Chris Hoy
Ben Ainslie
Ellie Simmons
Lewis Hamilton
Nicole Cooke
Mark Cavendish
Victoria Pendleton
Joe Calzaghe
Andy Murray
IMO these are the best candidates.
Adlington is the first British Swimming Olympic champion since 1988 and smashed the longest standing record in the pool in the 800m freestyle.
Hoy is just as deserving but I feel the cycling vote will be split.
Ainslies achievements in 3 olympics in 3 different sports deserves a mention, as do those of Ellie Simmons who at the age of 13 years of age became a double paralympic champion in the 100m and 400m freestyles S6 category.
Cooke became olympic and world champion in Road Race cycling and Cavendish's performance in the seasons stage races was outstanding, though I feel his time will come for this award with the TDF green jersey in future years.
I have included Pendleton at the expense of Wiggins to allow for a more even spread of female to males and this allows for a clear divide between the two top male cyclists in Road/track cycling and the two top females in the same disciplines.
Calzaghe and Murray have both had outstanding yearsbut cannot comnpare to the achievment of those already mentioned.
That leaves me with Lewis Hamilton whose record breaking season and the exciting climax to this may sway the vote in his favour, in the main due the publicity he has received. However, I feel it would be a travesty if the achievments of this years Olympians were overlooked. It is sad to see some people commenting that Hamiltons is more deserving as his achievement was over the course of the whole year, but do they fail to recognise that he races once every two weeks (in the one of the two best cars on the grid!), while some of the olympians have devoted 5 hours to training per day for nigh on 4 years to reach the pinnacle of their sport?
Hamilton will most likely go on to achieve many great things in F1, so his time for SPOTY will come, the Olympics are only once every four years, so lets celebrate Hoy and Ainslies modesty or Adlington and Simmonds naivity!
Team of year: GB Cycling without doubt. Olympics, World Championships the lot!
Manager: Dave Brailsford (Cycling again!)
Overseas: Between Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, Rafael Nadal and Sebastien Loeb (Record 5th World Rally Championship, and only the 4th non Nordic driver to win the Rally of Finland ever)
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If Chris Hoy does not win, then it would appear that no cyclist can win SPOTY, as Hoy acheived all that can be achieved. The IOC took away his best event, the kilo, where he was the reigning Olympic champ, so he learned and won three new ones.
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This may be off subject. But as there is no blog just about racing or BBC cverage of rights here you go. If reports in the Racing Post are true. Then BBC sport is in terminal decline. When a sport has a season you either cover that season or you don't. The BBC treated Prmiership Rugby Union with utter disrespect. You highlights programme last year was a shambles. And did not cover the whole season and was never on at a consistent time. Now with Racing according to reports the BBC is to cut back its racing output to just 12 days. This shows a total disregard for viewers and the sport. How can you claim to tell the story of the whole season by showing just 12 days. Would you do this with football and the Premiership and show MOTD for just 12 weeks or 12 episodes NO. Because you cover the whole season as should be the norm when a sport has a season and concludes when someone or a team win title of champion/s that season.
I have always been a fan off BBC sport. I have always watched the FA cup on the BBC rather than ITV, the world cup final on the BBC rather than ITV.
I only hope that racing says to the BBC if you want the Grand National and Royal Ascot then you must cover at least 70 days racing on tv be granted these rights because that is what I would do, otherwise I would make sure the BBC got no rights, if you were going to treat the sport I represented with such distain.
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Hamilton's had a great year and so have Murray and Calzaghe, but for me it's going to be an Olympian.
So many to choose from but 2 really stand out. Chris Hoy and Rebecca Adlington.
Although Adlington's achievement is incredible I think Chris Hoy has got to be the winner.
His gold 4 years ago was a truly great Olympic moment...and then they take his event away. So what does he do? Takes up a 2 new events and wins them both with ease and finally leads GB to beat the French in the team sprint. Awesome
Reading the answers to this blogs it should be a really interesting vote on the night.
Although lots of people seem to THINK Hamilton will win, more people say they will will be voting for Hoy (and Adlington for that matter).
Will the bookies be wrong again after Darren Clarke in 2006 and Lewis Hamilton last year?
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In Beijing, Swimmer Dave Roberts equalled Tanni Grey Thompson's tally of number of career Paralympic Gold medals. Surely Dave should be on the shortlist?
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i agree that the Cycling team should be Team of the Year but only because of how difficult it would be to pick one out of those lot. Do you go for Chris Hoy? or Victoria Pendleton? or Bradley Wiggins? The best way to decide is by giving the whole team an award
Personally I believe that Andy Murray should win the main award. He was indifferent in the first half of the year (Australian Open-Major failure, Doha-success) but then he was outstanding the second half. He gained confidence from Wimbledon and broke into the greats of current Tennis in the US Open. He beat all of the top three and infact many people believe that the top three is now a top four, which didn't seem possible at the start of the year. He's more dedicated, more motivated (beating Federer in the Masters cup even though he was through), he's lost his temper but more importantly he's grown up.
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Overseas PERSONALITY: With personality being the key word has to go to Usain Bolt. Who else has the personality and the achievement (3 gold medals + 3 world records)??
____________________________________
Michael Phelps maybe??? 8 medals, and 7 world records in one Olympics is unprecedented. As far as personality goes, all Bolt seems to demonstrate is unbridled cockiness, arrogance and self-praise (who else looks behind them during the 100m, then says they could have run faster if they wanted to but didn't see the need, and then goes on to say how great this all proves they are). Bolt has the traits we should be working to eradicate from sport, whereas Phelps was modest and sportsman like, crediting his victories to the support of his team mates (even when he swam 5 individual events) the American Olympic team, and the American people. He was driven, motivated, focused and competitive, winning with vigour but resisting the urge to blow his own trumpet about it afterwards. Phelps > Bolt
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Lewis Hamilton for the SPOTY, no question of doubt.
Of course he's been touted as the favorite, and boy do some people not like a favourite!
None the less, no-one has more done more to inspire in the world of sport, let alone on these shores.
The young man is a genuine star in every sense of the word. He has inspired so many with his talent and immense determination, and while I'd never belittle the achievements of others on the list, there's one who deserves to sit at the very top. I'll say it again - Lewis Hamilton.
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What about Nicole Cooke? She has now won everything in women's road cycling and achieved the Olympic and World's road race double this year. The World's was more exciting to watch than the Brazilian GP and she didn't have to rely on another competitors poor choice of tyre to win!
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I should have also added about the coach of the year. Can only be either Dave Brailsford, or Terry Edwards Amateur Boxing Coach - 3 medals at the Olympic games, first gold medal at the European Championships in a generation and 8 medals at the EU Championships, with the threat of losing his job in the background. Fantastic performance from both coaches
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Much like MPs like announcements to be made in the Commons first, it would be nice if you could announce the shortlist, final 10 on the BBC Sport Website/Sport Editors' Blog first rather than on The One Show.
Much as I like Adrian Chiles and the lovely Christine Berkley, maybe you should ensure that the sports fans on your website where months of discussion have taken place, should be in the know first.
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where is Shane Williams in this list, he won the welsh personality beating Joe Calzaghe ot the title and also he won the ultimate award in rugby, world player of the year.
This means there is no one better than him in the world. Quite an achievement but obviously the bbc dont agree.
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