Sports Personality of the Year

A focus on sporting achievement

2002 Paula Radcliffe

Admin

In 2002, long-distance runner Paula Radcliffe comfortably justified favouritism to win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, finishing some way ahead of footballer David Beckham, jockey Tony McCoy, boxer Lennox Lewis and rugby union player Jonny Wilkinson in the public phone poll. In so doing, she became to first woman since middle-distance runner Liz McColgan, in 1991, to be presented with the coveted trophy.

Indeed, 2002 was the year in which Radcliffe shed finally her “always the bridesmaid” tag to become an out-and-out champion. In March, she won the senior women’s race at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Dublin, thereby becoming the first woman in a decade to successfully defend her title. In July, she won the gold medal in the women’s 5,000 metres at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester and, in August, another in the women’s 10,000 metres at the European Athletics Championhips in Munich.

On the road, in April, Radcliffe attempted the London Marathon for the first time, winning in a time of 2:18:56, world record for a women’s only race amd just nine seconds outside the overall world record. In October, on just her second attempt over 26 miles and 385 yards, she won the Chicago Marathon in a time of 2:17:56, beating the previous world record, held by Kenyan Catherine Ndereba, who finished second, by nearly a minute and a half.

Reflecting on her annus mirabilis, Radcliffe, 28, said, “My training for the London Marathon proved very significant and was the springboard to my whole year. It gave me the physical strength to go on and achieve everything else, and that is why I shall be defending my title.” That she did, in no uncertain terms. On April 13, 2003, she won the London Marathon for a second time, improving her own world record by over two minutes with a time of 2:15:25, which would stand for 16 years, until broken by another Kenyan, Brigid Kosgei, with a time of 2:14:04, in the Chicago Marathon on October 13, 2019. Of course, Radcliffe would win the London Marathon for a third time in 2005.

2009 – Ryan Giggs

Admin

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

Admin

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

Admin

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.