Sports Personality of the Year

A focus on sporting achievement

June 2025

Sir Steve Redgrave 2000

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Sir Steve Redgrave, who was knighted for services to rowing in the 2001 New Years Honours, once famously said, “Anyone who sees me go anywhere near a boat again, ever, you’ve got my permission to shoot me.” He issued that proclamation shortly after winning a gold medal, alongside Matthew Pinsent, in the coxless pair competition at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. That was, in fact, his fourth gold medal in as many Olympics, having previous won the coxed four in Los Angeles in 1984 and the coxless pairs in Seoul in 1988 and in Barcelona in 1992.

Nevertheless, on September 23, 2000, at the Sydney International Regatta Centre, Redgrave etched his name into the annals of British Olympic history by winning a fifth consecutive gold medal, this time in the coxless four, alongside Pinsent, James Cracknell and Tim Foster. Redgrave officially announced his retirement on October 31, 2000, a fact that he alluded to in his acceptance speech for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, saying, “I had to hint this time that I was going to retire.”

Redgrave, 38, beat heptathlete Denise Lewis into second place and wheelchair racer Tanni Grey-Thompson into third in the public vote. After being introduced by host Steve Ryder as “the greatest Olympian of them all” and receiving his award from Alan Shearer, the 38-year-old, clearly emotional, said, “It’s a very fitting end to my international career being here tonight. Tonight is very special. I’m very honoured.”

Sir Steve Redgrave was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), in 1992 and Type 2 diabetes in 1997. Nevertheless, he not only continued to compete, but to win Olympic gold medals while managing both conditions. He rightly received a standing ovation from the audience at Television Centre, not to mention being made Knight Bachelor the following year and being given the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011. A poll of surviving Olympic athletes conducted by the ‘Daily Telegraph’ named Redgrave the greatest British Olympian of all time, with decathlete Daley Thompson in a distant second place.

Nigel Mansell 1986 and 1992

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Nigel Mansell has the distinction of being the first Formula One driver to be voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY) twice. On the first occasion, in 1986, he beat javelin thrower Fatima Whitbread and footballer Kenny Dalglish in the public vote after narrowly missing out on the Formula One World Drivers’ Championship.After accepting the SPOTY trophy from Sir Henry Cooper, he said, “I think I know where I’d rather be at this minute and that’s certainly on the grid and not standing here. It has come as a complete surprise because I think I’ve been out of the country all but for about two days since Australia…”

Mansell won five Grand Prixs in 1986, but heading into the sixteenth and final race of the season, the Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide, he was just one of three possible world champions, the others being his Williams-Honda teammate Nelson Piquet and McLaren-TAG rival Alain Prost. Mansell was forced to retire when his left-rear tyre exploded with 19 laps remaining and Prost went on the win his second drivers’ title with 72 points, just two points ahead.

Fast forward half a dozen years and, in 1992, Mansell won his first and only drivers’ championship in emphatic style. He won the first five races of the season and went on to become the first Formula One driver to win nine. A second-place finish, behind Ayrton Senna, in the Hungarian Grand Prix Hungaroring in August gave him an unassailable 52-point lead in the championship standings and he finished the season the same margin ahead of his nearest pursuer, Ricardo Patrese.

Mansell thus became the first British Formula One world campion since James Hunt in 1976. In his final season in Formula One – in 1993, he would switch his attention to Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) in the United States, winning the IndyCar World Series at the first attempt – he also beat the British record for Grand Prix victories, 27, previously held by Sir Jackie Stewart. After beating athletes Linford Christie and Sally Gunnell to his second SPOTY Award, Mansell, on crutches, made the most of his time at the microphone to thank anyone and everyone, not least his wife of 24 years, Roseanne.

Michael Owen 1998

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In 1998, following an extraordinary year, footballer Michael Owen was named BBC Sports Personality of Year, beating heptathlete Denise Lewis and sprinter Iwan Thomas by the proverbial country mile in the public vote. Accepting the trophy from host Des Lynam, Owen, 18, said, “It’s been a great year for me. This really has topped it off. It’s been a great early birthday present.”

Owen had scored 18 goals for Liverpool on the 1997/98 Premier League campaign, earning him a share of the Golden Boot with Chris Sutton and Dion Dublin, as well as being named Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) Young Player of the Year and Premier League Player of the Season. At the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, Owen was one of four forwards in the England squad, alongside Alan Shearer, Teddy Sheringham and Les Ferdinand. However, an equaliser after 81 minutes during a eventual 2-1 defeat by Romania at Stadium de Toulouse made him the youngest ever England goalscorer at the World Cup and earnt him a place in the starting lineup for the last-16 match against Argentina.

On June 30, at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Étienne, Owen won a penalty after nine minutes, despite later admitting that, “I could stayed on my feet”, which allowed Alan Shearer to cancel out an early opener, also a penalty, from Gabriel Batistuta four minutes earlier. Less than ten minutes later, Owen, himself, scored a brilliant individual goal, beating two defenders before finishing beyond the reach of goalkeeper Carlos Roa. Sadly, it was not to be for England, with Javier Zanetti equalising on the stroke of half-time and David Beckham sent off for a violent conduct after a petulent, off-the-ball foul on Diego Simeone in the second half.

The match finished 2-2, after extra time, and Argentina eventually won 4-3 on penalties. Owen converted his own effort from 12 yards, but Paul Ince and David Batty had theirs saved by Roa, consigning the Three Lions to defeat. Owen later described Beckham’s retaliation as “childish and unnecessary”. Owen went on to be capped 89 times for England, scoring 40 goals; he remains the fourth-highest goalscorer for the national team, behind Sir Bobby Charlton, Gary Lineker, and Jimmy Greaves.

Liz McColgan 1991

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In 1991, middle- and long-distance runner Liz McColgan was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year, ahead of rubgy player Will Carling and footballer Gary Lineker, whose award was accepted by Tottenham Hotspur teammate Gary Mabbutt. Accepting the trophy from Michel Checklet, Director General of the BBC, she said, “Just like to say that I’m very, very honoured and a personal thank you to each and every viewer who actually took time out and voted for me. It’s been a great year…” She was quick to express her gratitude to her coach, and then husband, Northern Irish athlete Peter McColgan, adding “fifty percent of this award goes to him”.

McColgan, of Dundee Hawkhill Harriers, had won a silver medal in the women’s 10,000 metres at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, albeit a respectful 15 metres or so behind the gold medallist, Olga Bondarenko of the Soviet Union. However, at the 1991 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, despite the heat and humidity, she dominated a high-class field in the final of the women’s 10,000 metres, winning the gold medal in a time of 31:14.31, more than 20 seconds ahead of her nearest rival, Zhong Huandi of China.

McColgan had trained mostly in Gainesville, Florida, in an effort to simulate the conditions she would experience in Japan, but later recounted, “I was dead. I couldn’t handle the heat or the humidity.” She handled it better than her rivals, though, and her performance was all the more remarkable for the fact that she had given birth to her eldest daughter, Eilish, as recently as the end of November 1990. McColgan certainly impressed commentator Brendan Foster, who exclaimed, “The greatest run in the history of British distance running, man or woman, any time, any place, anywhere. That’s the best I’ve seen and it’s better than any I’ve ever read about.”

In June, McColgan also ran a personal-best 30:57.07 for 10,000 metres, which would stand as a Scottish record until her daughter, Eilish, ran 30:19.02 in Hengelo in June 2022. In November, she also travelled to the United States, where she won the New York Marathon in a time of 2:27:32.