Sports Personality of the Year

A focus on sporting achievement

June 2025

Paul Gascoigne 1990

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In 1990, footballer Paul Gascoigne was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year, ahead of snooker player Stephen Hendry and cricketer Graham Gooch. He thus became the first footballer to win the coveted prize since World Cup-winning captain Bobby Moore in 1966. Accepting the trophy from another World Cup winner, Sir Bobby Charlton, Gascoigne said, “I am really pleased. I’d just like to say thanks to Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, who’ve helped me, and a certain man called Terry Venables, who’s been fantastic to me.”

Gascoigne had joined Tottenham Hotspur, under Venables, in 1988 for £2.2 million, which was, at the time, a British record, but it was his stellar performances for the England national team, under Bobby Robson, at the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy that would make him a national treasure. Gascoigne was outstanding in a 0-0 draw with the Netherlands in the Group F game at the Stadio Comunale Sant’Elia in Cagliari, a 1-0 victory, after extra time, over Belgium in the round of 16 at Stadio Renato Dall’Ara in Bologna and the semi-final against West Germany at the Stadio delle Alpi in Turin, which England eventually lost 4-3 on penalties.

After a goalless first half in Turin, West German full-back Andreas Brehme opened the scoring on the hour mark, but his goal was cancelled out by a left-footed strike by Gary Lineker with 10 minutes remaining. With the scores level, at 1-1, the match headed into extra time and, after 99 minutes, Gascoigne was booked for a wild, lunging challenge on centre-back Thomas Berthold. As soon as the yellow card was produced, Gascoigne knew that he would miss the World Cup final; his bottom lip wobbled and tears well in his eyes, creating one of the iconic moments in the history of English football.

More importantly, Gascoigne, who had been earmarked to take a penalty in the decisive shoot-out, withdrew and was replaced by Chris Waddle, who famously ballooned his spot-kick over the bar to bring England’s World Cup campaign to an ignominious end. Nevertheless, England had achieved what is still, jointly, their second best finish at the World Cup and ‘Gazzmania’ was born.

Barry McGuigan 1985

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In 1985, boxer Barry McGuigan was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY), beating cricketer Ian Botham and Steve Cram into second and third place, respectively, in the public vote. Born Finbar McGuigan in Clones, County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland – hence his nickname ‘The Clones Cyclone’ – the 24-year-old had taken out British citizenship to fight for British titles and hence became the first person born outside the United Kingdom to win the SPOTY Award.

In 1985 as a whole, McGuigan fought four times. In February, he beat Juan Laporte on points at the King’s Hall in Belfast and, in March, successfully defended his European Boxing Union (EBU) European featherweight title with a second-round technical knockout of Farid Gallouze at Wembley Arena. His career-defining fight, though, came on June 8, 1985, when he fought Panamanian Eusebio Pedroza World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight title at Loftus Road Stadium, Shepherd’s Bush.

Pedroza, 29, had held the WBA title for seven years and successfully defended it 18 times. Indeed, he completely outboxed McGuigan in the early rounds, but the complexion of the fight changed when, in the seventh round, McGuigan landed a textbook overhand right, dropping Pedroza to the canvas. Pedroza received a mandatory eight count, but the flat-out affair went the distance, with McGuigan winning by unanimous decision, 148-138, 149-139, 147-140. Reflecting on his ultimate career performance, McGuigan said later, “I was on such a high, I could have fought 20 rounds. I was just so up for the fight. I was so emotionally fired up for it.”

Prior to collecting the SPOTY Award at BBC Television Centre, McGuigan had also made a successful first defence of his WBA featherweight title against Bernard Taylor at the King’s Hall in Belfast in September. Taylor was retired by his corner after the eighth round and collapsed shortly afterwards, reportedly suffering from heat exhaustion. McGuigan, himself, fought on until 1989, when he retired for the second and final time, with a professional career record of 32 wins, including 28 by knockout, and three losses. At the time of his retirement, he was still only 28.

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.