Sports Personality of the Year

Lennox Lewis 1999

Admin June 16, 2025

In 1999, boxer Lennox Lewis was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year, beating footballer David Beckham into second place and athlete Colin Jackson into third. After picking up the trophy, he said, “”It’s a a great honour to be able to achieve my goal. I’d like to thank the team behind me. I’d like to thank my country. It’s been 10 years through trials and tribulations of trying to acheive this goal and they actually made me box 24 rounds for it [the undisputed world heavyweight title], so I can say I earnt it. For all the young people out and young athletes, may my trials and tribulations be a level for success for them.”

Lewis had won the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight title in February 1997, by virtue of a fifth-round technical knockout of Oliver McCall at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas. In March 1999, he fought a unification bout against reigning World Boxing Association (WBA) and the International Boxing Federation (IBF) champion Evander Holyfield at Madison Square Garden, New York, which resulted in a split decision draw. The rematch, at the Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas in November, was another closely-fought affair, which also went the distance.

However, Lewis won by unanimous points decision, 116-112, 117-111, 115-113, to become the first British undisputed heavyweight champion of the world since Bob Fitzsimmons in the late nineteenth century. After three successful title defences, he was knocked in the fifth round by Hamsin Rakman in Carnival City, South Africa in April 2001, but won the rematch at the Manadalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas the following November by fourth-round knockout.

Lewis subsequently knocked out Mike Tyson at The Pyramid, Memphis in August 2002 and stopped Vitali Klitschko at the Staples Center, Los Angeles in June 2003. He retired, as reigning world heavyweight champion, in February 2004, at the age of 38. He retired with a record of 41-2-1, with 32 wins by knockout. The World Boxing Council had set a deadline of March 1 to confirm a rematch with Klitschko, but Lewis chose to become the first reigning heavyweight champion to retire since Rocky Marciano in 1956.

Greg Rusedski 1997

Admin June 15, 2025

Tennis player Greg Rusedski was born in Montreal, Canada on September 6, 1973 but, having won his first Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles title, the Hall of Fame Open in Newport, Rhode Island in 1993, as a Canadian national, he opted for British citizenship, courtesy of his English-born mother, in 1995. His decision was not universally popular on either side of the Atlantic, but in 1997 Rusedski received a fillip from the British public when he was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year in his adopted country.

At the 1997 Wimbledon Championships, Rusedski, who began the year with a world ranking of 48 , progressed to the quarter-finals of the men’s singles, where he lost in four sets to eventual runner-up Cédric Pioline. At the 1997 US Open, which featured the newly-built Arthur Ashe Stadium at the

United States Tennis Association (USTA) Tennis Center in Queens, New York as the main court, Rusedski reached the final of the men’s singles without dropping a set. He eventually lost, again in four sets, to Patrick Rafter.

In so doing, Rusedski became the first British man to reach the singles final at the US Open since Fred Perry won, for the third time, in 1936 and the first to reach any Grand Slam singles final since John Lloyd, who lost in five sets to Vytautas ‘Vitas’ Gerulaitis at the Australian Open in December 1977. Sadly, his notable achievements were overshadowed by the tragic death of Diana, Princess of Wales from injuries sustained in a car crash in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in Paris, France on August 31, 1997, midway through the US Open.

Nevertheless, while Rusedski never won a Grand Slam singles title, the most memorable year of his career saw him a world ranking of four and, in the days before Sir Andy Murray, his efforts were duly recognised by BBC viewers. Having accepted his trophy from Sir Peter O’Sullevan, who introduced him as “Rudeski”, Rusedski said, “I am absolutely delighted to receive this prestigious award; it’s in such excellent company. I’d like to thank all the people who voted for me. It’s a difficult name to spell, as you know…”

Jonathan Edwards 1995

Admin June 15, 2025

Born in London on May 18, 1966, triple jumper Jonathan Edwards was, by his own admission, “a very late developer”. However, having failed to qualify for two consecutive Summer Olympics, in Seoul in 1988 and Barcelona in 1992, in 1995 he enjoyed a true annus mirabilis.

In June, at the European Cup, Edwards jumped an illegally wind-assisted 18.43 metres at what is now the Stadium Lille-Metropole, making him the first man in history to jump beyond 60 feet, or 18.29 metres, and just the third, after the American duo Willie Banks and Mike Conley, to jump beyond 18 metres under any circumstances. He later reflected on his achievement, saying, “Afterwards, I was very disappointed. I think my 18.43m was worth between 18.20m and 18.30m legal.”

His disappointment did not last long, though. In July, Edwards jumped 17.74 metres in Gateshead to break the British record and 17.98 metres in Salamanca to break the 10-year-old world record previously held by the aforementioned Willie Banks.

In August, at the World Athletics Championships in Gothenberg, Edwards broke the world record again, with a first-round jump of 18.16 metres, making him the first man in history to legitimately jump beyond 18 metres. Clearly ‘in the groove’, in the second round he did so again, sailing out to an eye-watering 18.29 metres, thereby setting a new world record, which, at the time of writing, still stands. Not altogether surprisingly, Edwards became an instant celebrity.

Edwards ended 1995 by being voted World Athlete of the Year, European Athlete of the Year and BBC Sports Personality of the Year, in the latter case beating boxer Frank Bruno into second place and rally driver Colin McRae into third in the public vote. Having accepting the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award from Ryder Cup captain Bernard Gallacher, Edwards began, “I’m not quite sure I can speak,” but went on to thank his coaches, his wife, Alison, and his mother and father. He said, “The thing that’s stuck out is how many people have sacrified without the sort of rewards that I’ve received this year.”

David Beckham 2001

Admin June 14, 2025

At the time of writing, Sir David Beckham, 50, has recently been awarded a knighthood for services to sport and charity in King Charles’ Birthday Honours List. That decision has proved divisive but, the best part of a quarter of a century ago, in his playing days, his election as BBC Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY) 2001 was far less equivocal.

Notwithstanding winning the Premiership for the third season running with his club, Manchester United, in 2000/01, Beckham, then 26, had scored a spectacular, injury-time free-kick for England against Greece at Old Trafford in early October, thereby earning a 2-2 draw and securing the Three Lions’ place in the 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan the following summer. That effort alone, well-timed as it was, just two months before the SPOTY ceremony, was enough to sway the majority of the three-quarters of a million, or more, telephone voters on the night.

The result was hardly a surprise, but the England captain beat round-the-world yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur into second place and England teammate Michael Owen – who won the Ballon D’Or – into third. Tennis player Tim Henman, boxer Lennox Lewis and triple jumper Jonathan Edwards completed the shortlist of six nominees for the coveted prize.

Fittingly, Beckham was presented with the trophy by his England manager Sven Goran Eriksson. Beckham was quick to thank Eriksson and Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, adding, “Most of all I would like to thank my wife [Victoria], who has been behind me all the time and obviously my son [Brooklyn], who watches me, every game.” Earlier in the two-hour television special, Eriksson himself had collected the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Coach Award, after guiding the England team to the aforementioned World Cup.

At the World Cup, England progressed to the knockout stages, with Beckham scoring a penalty in a 1-0 win over Argentina at the Sapporo Dome in the second of three group matches. England eventually lost 2-1 to Brazil in the quarter-finals, but Beckham went on to make 115 appearances for the national team, placing him third on the all-time list behind Peter Shilton, with 125, and Wayne Rooney, with 120.