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2017 – Sir Mo Farah

Admin May 25, 2025

Born Hussein Abdi Kahin in what is now Somaliland, Sir Mohamed Farah, universally known as Sir Mo Farah, was knighted for services to athletics in the 2017 New Years Honours. He was also voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2017, beating motorcycle racer Jonathan Rea into second place and paralympian Jonnie Peacock into a narrow third, just ahead of boxer Anthony Joshua. Farah had previousy been shortlisted for the award no fewer than five times, finishing third behind cyclist Mark Cavendish in 2011.

Farah, 34, had won his third successive 10,000m gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in London the previous August, following victories in Moscow in 2013 and Beijing in 2015. Indeed, he also won the 5,000m at the 2011 World Athletics Championships in Daegu, completed the 5,000m/10,000m double in Moscow and Beijing and did likewise in two successive Olympic Games, in London in 2012 and in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

Farah, who accepted the award by video link from the Sir Mo Farah Athletics Track at St. Mary’s University in Twickenham, where he was once a student, apologised for being unable to attend the ceremony in person. He said, “I am sorry I could not be there. My kid has been not well.” Speaking on his behalf, former athlete Michael Johnson told the audience at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, “It’s well deserved. Over the years he’s dominated, he’s out there by himself and always got the tactics right.”

Farah did seem genuinely surprised to become the first long-distance runner since Paul Radcliffe, in 2002, to be voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year. The video link to Twickenham cut out prematurely but, clearly emotional, he told his local audience, “It is pretty amazing and hard to think about. I didn’t imagine I was ever going to win this, but anything can happen. If you work hard you can achieve your dreams.I just cannot believe I have won.” Farah bid farewell to competitive athletics in the Great North Run in September 2023, but he remains the most successful male track distance runner in history.

2012 Sir Bradley Wiggins

Admin May 25, 2025

Belgian-born Sir Bradley Wiggins was knighted for services to cycling in the 2013 New Years Honours but, shortly beforehand, was voted 2012 BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Wiggins, then 32, beat 11 other nominees – headed by heptathlete Jessica Ennis and tennis player Andy Murray – to the much sought-after title, having become the first Briton to win the Tour de France.

Indeed, in a stellar 2012, Wiggins not only won the Tour de France – by 3′ 21″ from his Team Sky colleague Chris Froome – but also Paris-Nice, the Tour de Romandie, the Criterium du Dauphine, making him the only cyclist ever to win all four events in the same season. Not only that, but just over a week after his victory on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, Wiggins demonstrated hia ability to bounce back from the extreme physical and mental demands of the Tour by winning the men’s road time trial at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Wiggins already had three Olympic gold medals to his name, having won the individual pursuit in Athens in 2004 and that event, plus the team pursuit in Beijing in 2008. He had also proved a force majeure at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships, winning gold medals in the individual pursuit in 2003, 2007 and 2008, the team pursuit in 2007 and 2008 and the madison in 2008.

As far as Grand Tours are concerned, Wiggins had previously finished fourth, promoted to third, in the Tour De France in 2009 and third, promoted to second, in the Vuelta a España in 2011. Accepting the award from the Duchess of Cambridge, he said, “I will say thank you to everyone who voted. We have had all that jungle stuff [I’m a Celebrity…] and X Factor in the last few weeks, so for people to pick up the phone and vote in half an hour, thank you very much.” Following in the footsteps the 2011 winner, Mark Cavendish, Wiggins became just the fourth cyclist to win the award after Sir Chris Hoy in 2008 and Tommy Simpson back in 1965.

2013 2015 & 2016 – Sir Andy Murray

Admin May 25, 2025

Sir Andy Murray, who was awarded a knighthood for services to tennis and charity in the 2016 New Year Honours list, has the distinction of being the only sportsperson to have been voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year on three separate occasions. Glasgow-born Murray first did so in 2013, the year in which, at the age of 26, he became the first Briton to win the men’s single title at Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936. Reflecting on his 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 victory over Novak Djokovic in the final, he said during his acceptance speech, “I know sometimes I’m not the easiest person to support but I’ve had a lot of pressure on me for a long time. I’m glad I managed to do it.” He beat rugby union player Leigh Halfpenny and jockey Tony McCoy in the public vote to become the fourth tennis player to win the award, after Ann Jones, Virginia Wade and Greg Rusedski.

Two years later, in 2015, Murray won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award again. He was instrumental in Great Britain winning the Davis Cup for the first time since beating Australia 3-2 in the final of the International Lawn Tennis Challenge, as the tournament was known until 1946, in 1936. He also finished runner-up, to Djokovic, in the Australian Open and reached the semi-finals in the French Open and at Wimbledon. This time, he polled 35% of the public vote to beat rugby league player Kevin Sinfield into second place and heptathlete Jessica Ennis Hill into third.

In 2016, Murray was voted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year for a record third time, beating triathlete Alistair Brownlee into second place and showjumper Nick Skelton into third. In an eventful year, Murray won the Wimbledon men’s singles title for the second time, beating Milos Raonic in straight sets in the final, defended his Olympic men’s singles title, beatingJuan Martín del Potro in four sets in the gold medal match, and towards the end of the year replaced Djokovic as world number one. Accepting the award via video-link from Miami, Florida, he said, “It’s been a great year for British sport and I am so proud to have been a part of it.”

2018 Geraint Thomas

Admin May 25, 2025

The 2018 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award was won by cyclist Geraint Thomas, who beat racing driver Lewis Hamilton and footballer Harry Kane in the public vote to lift the coveted trophy. Kane had been favourite to win the award after captaining England to their first World Cup semi-final since 1990 and winning the Golden Boot with six goals.

Cardiff-born Thomas, then 32 and a Team Sky rider, won two stages of the Tour de France and wore the Yellow Jersey for the final 11 stages, eventually winning the general classification by 1′ 51″ from his nearest rival, Tom Dumoulin of the Nederlands. Thomas was the first Welshman and just the third Briton to win the Tour de France, but the sixth British winner in seven years after Bradley (now Sir Bradley) Wiggins in 2012 and Chris Froome in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017.He was also the first rider in the history of the Tour de France to win at the iconic Alpe d’Huez while wearing the Yellow Jersey.

Aside from winning the Tour de France, on his ninth attempt, Thomas also had an admirable record as a track cyclist. At the UCI Track Cycling World Championships, he won gold medals in team pursuit in 2007, 2008 and 2012, while at the Olympic Games he won gold medals in the same event in Beijing in 2008 and in London in 2012.

Thomas had already been named BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the Year, but appeared to be genuinely shocked to receive further acknowlegement of his achievements. Receiving the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award from the previous winner, Sir Mo Farah, he said, “I really should have thought about what I was going to say.” However, he later added, “I take great pride in representing Britain and Wales. It has been a great year for British sport and long may it continue.”

Thomas became the fifth Welshman to win the award, after Dai Rees, David Broome, Joe Calzaghe and Ryan Giggs. Coincidentally, he also became the fifth cyclist to do so, after Tom Simpson, Mark Cavendish, Sir Chris Hoy and the aforementioned Bradley Wiggins.