Sports Personality of the Year

A focus on sporting achievement

June 2025

Torvill and Dean 1984

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In 1984, for the first time in the 30-year history of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, the coveted prize went not to one person, but to two people. Those two people were, of course, figure skaters Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, who beat athlete Sebastian Coe and snooker player Steve Davis in the public vote. Accepting the trophy from (yet to be knighted) Elton John, Dean said, graciously, “I would like to say thank you to everybody that’s helped us over the years to achieve the success that we have.”

Rather romantically, on Valentine’s Day, 1984, at the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, Torvill and Dean became the highest-scoring figure skaters of all time, courtesy of a innovative free-dance programme performed to an abridged version of ‘Boléro’ by French composer Maurice Ravel. Abridged it may have been, but still nearly 20 seconds too long for the four minutes and 10 seconds allowed for musical accompaniment. Thus, cleverly, the routine started with the skaters kneeling, rather than standing, such that the time did not start until the first of their skates touched the ice.

Watched by 8,500 spectators at the Zetra Olympic Hall (now the Juan Antonio Samaranch Olympic Hall) in Sarajevo and a televison audience of over 24 million in Britain alone, the pair executed the routine almost to perfection. As flowers rained down onto the ice, they received 12 perfect 6.0 scores, including nine out of nine for artistic impression, and six 5.9 scores. A slightly shell-shocked Dean said afterwards, “Tonight we reached the pinnacle. I don’t remember the performance at all. It just happened.”

Remarkably, at the 1984 World Figure Skating Championships in Ottawa, Canada the following March, Torvill and Dean fared better still, recording 13 6.0 scores and five 5.9 scores. They turned professional shortly afterwards, but did, briefly, return to competition, winning the bronze medal in the ice dance at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. According to Austrian referee Hans Katchura, their routine contained an ‘illegal’ overhead lift, which was penalised. Philosophical on defeat, Dean said of the routine, “It was within the rules and entertaining at the same time.”

Steve Davis 1988

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In 1998, snooker player rounded off a memorable year by beating swimmer Adrian Moorhouse and golfer Sandy Lyle to the BBC Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY) Award in a poll of ‘Radio Times’ readers. In so doing, he became the first and, at the time of writing, only snooker player to lift the coveted silver-plated trophy. The main presentation was due to be made by Sir Arthur Gold, chairman of the British Olympic Association, but Davis was unable to attend the awards ceremony at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre.

Following an introduction by host Des Lynam, he was, instead, presented with a replica of the SPOTY trophy by his opponent, Terry Griffths (the beaten finalist in the 1988 World Snooker Championship), during a match in the Norwich Union Grand Prix at the Beach Plaza Hotel in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Slightly non-plussed at the prospect of making an acceptance speech, Davis said, “I’m absolutely delighted to have won this, but very disappointed to not be there as well.”

In November 1987, Davis won the UK Championship at the Guild Hall in Preston, beating Jimmy White 16-14 in the final. In January 1998, he won the Masters at the Wembley Conference Centre in London, whitewashing Mike Hallett in the final and, in May 1988, won the final ranking event of the 1987/88 season, the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, beating the aforementioned Terry Griffths 18-11 in the final. Davis was winning the fifth of his six world championships – he would successfully defend the title in 1989 to equal the modern-era record set by Ray Reardon in 1978 – but victory in Sheffileld also made him the first player to win all three ‘Triple Crown’ events in the same season.

Davis finally announced his retirement in April 2016, at the age of 58, having lost to Fergal O’Brien in qualifying for the World Snooker Championship. Reflecting on his decision, he said, “”The Fergal O’Brien match was my last and I told Barry Hearn [his manager] it was time to call it a day. My father passed away recently and it was natural time to stop playing.” Davis finished his career with 28 ranking titles, which, at the time, placed him co-second on the all-time list, alongside Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins.

Steve Cram 1983

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In 1983, athlete Steve Cram was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year, ahead of figure skaters Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean and decathlete Daley Thompson. Capitalising on the absence of his two main middle-distance rivals, compatriots Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett, through injury, Cram had won gold medals in the 1,500 metres at both the European Athletics Championships in Athens and the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane in 1982.

However, in 1983, his career took another step forward when, on August 14, he won the gold medal in the 1,500 metres at the inaugural World Athletics Championships in Helsinki. Having beaten Ovett in his semi-final, in a championship record time of 3:35.77, the ‘Jarrow Arrow’, as Cram was affectionately known, faced 11 rivals in the final, including Ovett and Said Aouita of Morocco, the fastest man in the world that season.

Aouita struck for home approaching the bell but, using his long stride to good effect, Cram tackled the leader early, and took the race by the scruff of the neck inside the final 200 metres. Down the home straight he never seriously looked like being caught and although American record holder Steve Smith closed, passing the weakening Aouita, Cram was always holding him and came home in a relatively slow 3:41.59 to win the gold medal. Ovett, for his part, came from an unpromising position to finish fourth, in 3:42.34.

Later that year, Cram met Ovett again, in the popular Coca-Cola meeting at Crystal Palace. He confirmed the Helsinki form, but only just, winning, by his own admission, “by little more than the thickness of a vest”. Indeed, a clip of that epic race was shown during the SPOTY awards ceremony, with commentary by David Coleman, who also hosted the show. At the conclusion of the race, Coleman said, fittingly, “Cram so modest in victory, Ovett so generous in defeat; a duel to remember, from which both emerged with honour.”

Cram went on to win the silver medal in the 1,500 metres at the 1984 Summer Olympics, behind Coe, and between July 16 and August 4, 1985, set world records for 1,500 metres, a mile and 2,000 metres. He eventually retired from competitive athletics in 1994.

Sir Nick Faldo 1989

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Knighted for services to golf in the 2009 Birthday Honours, Sir Nick Faldo made his final competitive appearance at The Open Championship at St. Andrews, Scotland in 2015, by which time he has amassed 41 professional wins, including six major championships. Faldo won The Open three times, at Muirfield in 1987, at St. Andrews in 1990 and at Muirfield again in 1992, and the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia three times, in 1989, 1990 and 1996.

Following his first Masters victory, in 1989, Hertforshire-born Faldo was also voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year, ahead of boxer Frank Bruno and snooker player Steve Davis. The sporting year was, of course, overshadowed by the Hillsborough disaster – the deadliest in British sporting history, utimately resulting in 97 fatalities – at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield on April 15, less than a week after the climax of the Masters Tournament. All of the victims were fans of Liverpool Football Club, deemed to have been “unlawfully killed” and, fittingly, the SPOTY trophy was presented by Bishop of Liverpool, David Sheppard, who was deeply involved in helping Liverpool heal from the tragedy.

After collecting the trophy, Faldo said, “Can I obviously thank everybody’s who voted for me, everybody’s who’s supported me this year, the fans, obviously, who’ve supported golf so much, recently, in the last few years…”

At Augusta, Faldo had trailed by five strokes heading into the final round, but made eight birdies and just one bogey to post 65 and a 72-hole total of 283 (-5), which gave him the clubhouse lead. American Scott Hoch, who had trailed the third-round leader, compatriot Ben Crenshaw, by a single stroke at the start of the day, emerged as the principal challenger and actually had a putt to win the tournament, albeit from 25 feet, on the final regulation hole. He missed, and missed again, from four feet, on the first playoff hole, the tenth, only for Faldo to hole his birdie putt from 25 feet to win his first Masters title and the second major championship of his career.