Sports Personality of the Year

A focus on sporting achievement

June 2025

2009 – Ryan Giggs

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In 2009, footballer Ryan Giggs was a shock winner of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, beating racing driver Jensen Button, who was odds-on favourite with the bookmakers, into second place and heptathlete Jessica Ennis into third in the public vote. Giggs became just the fifth footballer, after Bobby Moore (1966), Paul Gascoigne (1990), Michael Owen (1998) and David Beckham (2001).

Giggs, 36, appeared genuinely sheepish as he accepted the trophy from the 2008 winner, Sir Chris Hoy. “That is a shock,” he began, before saying, “I’ve been lucky enough to win a lot of things in my career, playing with great players, under the greatest manager that’s ever lived, playing for the greatest club, but this is up there.”

In his eighteenth season as a professional, Giggs had been voted Player of the Year by the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) the previous April. That same month he reached the landmark of 800 appearances for Manchester United, his only professional club, and in September a deflected free-kick against Wolfsburg at Old Trafford in the Chanpions League brought up 150 goals for the Red Devils. In so doing, he became just the ninth United player to achieve the feat. The winger-turned-midfielder was also instrumental in helping Manchester United to reach the final of the Champions League, for the second year running, albeit that they eventually lost 2-0 to Barcelona at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

Neverthless, with a total off 11 league titles, four FA Cups, three League Cups and two European Cups to his name and in the twilight of his career, few could argue that Giggs was a worthy winner. Even runner-up Button, while clearly disappointed, was magnanimous in defeat. He said, “I came here to, hopefully, win. I didn’t but the person that beat me I respect very much, so well done to him.” On New Year’s Eve, Giggs was, in fact, named Manchester United Player of the Decade. He eventually retired from playing in May 2014, aged 40, as the most decorated player in English football with a club record 963 appearances for Manchester United to his name.

2003 Jonny Wilkinson

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In 2003, as widely anticipated, England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year, beating his national captain Martin Johnson into second place and athlete Paul Radcliffe into third. Accepting the trophy from the Princess Royal, herself a former winner, he said, “I am not the most comfortable when I am in these situations, but I do enjoy myself. I would like to thank my family and friends for sticking by me and helping me through. Without these people I wouldn’t stand a chance. They have helped me realise my dreams.”

 

Wilkinson will probably always be best remembered for kicking the winning drop goal, with less than half a minute of extra time remaining, in a 20-17 victory over hosts Australia in the final of the Rugby World Cup at Stadium Australia, Sydney on November 22, 2003. However, by that stage of his career, Wilkinson, 24, was acknowledged as one of the best rugby union players in the world, playing for what was regarded by many, at the time, as the best rugby union team in the world.

 

Aside from the Rugby World Cup, Wilkinson had won the Six Nations Championship three times with England, in 2000, 2001 and 2003, including the Grand Slam on the latter occasion. He was also named IRB Player of the Year (now World Rugby Men’s 15s Player of the Year) for 2003. Domestically, Frimley-born Wilkinson won the Premiership with Newcastle Falcons in 1997/98 and the Anglo-Welsh Cup with the same club in 2001.

 

Wilkinson was created Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) 2002 New Years Honours, thereby becoming the youngest rugby union player to receive such an accolade. He played in all three Tests for the British and Irish Lions in Australia in 2001, scoring 36 points, and was once again instrumental in England victories over Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in the Autumn Internationals in 2002. At that stage, he had scored a total of 584 Test points, more than any other English player, at an average of over 15 points a game.

2011 Mark Cavendish

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In 2011, Mark Cavendish was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year, thereby becoming just the third cyclist, after Tommy Simpson in 1965 and Sir Chris Hoy in 2008, to win the award. Cavendish, 26, beat golfer Darren Clarke into a distant second place and long-distance runner Mo Farah into third in the public vote. After accepting the trophy from Sir Bobby Charlton, he said, “I am absolutely speechless, some of my team-mates here will say that is a rare thing. I had a group of guys who rode in Copenhagen who brought the rainbow jersey back to Britain after nearly half a century and that is a massive thing. Even to be nominated in the top 10 is an incredible thing.”

 

Born in Douglas on the Isle of Man – hence his nickname, “Manx Missile” – Cavendish was referring to the support of his Great Britain teammates, who included David Millar, Geraint Thomas and Bradley Wiggins, during his victory in the Men’s Road Race at the UCI Road World Championships in the Danish capital. His narrow defeat of Australian Matthew Goss made Cavendish the first Briton to win the event since the aforementioned Tom Simpson in San Sebastian in 1965.

 

Prior to winning his gold medal in Copenhagen, Cavendish had won five stages of the Tour de France, Stage 5, Carhaix to Cap Fréhel, Stage 7, Le Mans to Châteauroux, Stage 11, Blaye-les-Mines to Lavaur, Stage 15, Limoux to Montpellier and Stage 21, Créteil to Paris (Champs-Élysées). He held the green jersey, awarded to the rider leading the points classification each day, from Stage 11 onwards and thus became the first British winner of that competition. He also moved into sixth place on the all-time list for stage wins, albeit 14 behind Eddie Merckx, whose record of 34 wins he would eventually beat when winning Stage 5, Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Saint-Vulbas at the 2024 Tour de France.

 

Reflecting on a hgugely eventful year, Cavendish said, “They [the Tour de France and the World Championships] were the two hardest goals I could possibly set myself in the year, but I had some great guys around me.” He was subsequently knighted in the Birthday Honours List in 2024 and later that year received the Lifetime Achievement award at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony.

2007 Joe Calzaghe

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In 2007, boxer Joe Calzaghe was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year, thereby becoming the first Welsh sportsperson since showjumper David Broome in 1960 to win the award. Calzaghe beat the bookmakers’ favourite, racing driver Lewis Hamilton, into second place and fellow pugilist Ricky Hatton into third, with tennis player Andy Murray, athletes Christine Ohuruogu and Paula Radcliffe, rugby union players. Jason Robinson and Jonny Wilkinson, golfer Justin Rose and motorcycle racer James Toseland completing the 10-strong shortlist of nominees.

 

Accepting the familiar silver-plated trophy from former undisputed world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis in Las Vegas, Calzaghe said, “I am very proud of it, it’s a tremendous achievement. To get two boxers in the top three – wow!” He had been at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas the previous evening to witness Hatton suffer a tenth-round technical knockout by Floyd Mayweather Jr., thereby bringing his 43-fight winning streak to an end.

 

Calzaghe, himself, fought twice in 2007, successfully defending his World Boxing Organisation (WBO) super middleweight title with a third-round technical knockout of Peter Manfredo Jr. at the Principality Stadium, Cardiff in April and doing so again, as well as winning the World Boxing Association (WBA) and World Boxing Council (WBC) super middleweight titles, with a unanimous points decision over Mikkel Kessler at the same venue in November. In the wake of the latter contest, Kessler said, “I don’t think his power is really, really hard, but it confuses you when he hits you 20 times.”

 

At the time of winning the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, Calzaghe, 35, had already been a world champion for a decade, having orginally won the vacant WBO super middleweight title with a unanimous points decision over Chris Eubank at the Sheffield Arena, Sheffield in October 1997,and won all 44 of his professional fights. Having succcessfully defended the WBO title 21 times, he fought just twice more, winning non-title fights, at light heavyweight, against Bernard Hopkins in Las Vegas and Roy Jones Jr. in New York in 2008. He retired the following year, as one of the most accomplished British boxers in modern history and with the rare distinction of an undefeated 46-0-0 professional record.