The BBC Sports Personality of the Year is an awards ceremony that takes place annually in December. Devised by Paul Fox in 1954, it originally consisted of just a single award of the same name. Several new awards have been introduced, and currently eight awards are presented. The first awards to be added were the Team of the Year and Overseas Personality awards, which were introduced in 1960. A Lifetime Achievement Award was first given in 1995 and again in 1996, and has been presented annually since 2001. In 1999, three more awards were introduced: the Helen Rollason Award, the Coach Award, and the Newcomer Award, which was renamed to Young Sports Personality of the Year in 2001. The newest is the Unsung Hero Award, first presented in 2003. In 2003, the 50th anniversary of the show was marked by a five-part series on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

called ''Simply the Best – Sports Personality''. It was presented by

Gary Lineker Gary Winston Lineker ( ; born 30 November 1960) is an English Sports broadcasting, sports broadcaster and former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. Lineker is the only player t ...

and formed part of a public vote to determine a special Golden Sports Personality of the Year. That year Steve Rider and Martyn Smith wrote a book reflecting on the 50-year history of the award and the programme. The event was held outside London for the first time in 2006, when tickets were made available to the public. The trophy for the main award is a silver-plated four-turret lens camera, and for the other awards smaller imitations of the main trophy are used. All of the BBC local regions hold their own independent award ceremonies, which take place before the main ceremony and are used to compile a shortlist for the BBC Sports Unsung Hero Award. Other awards have been presented in the past. Special Achievement Awards have been presented on five occasions: to jockey

Lester Piggott Lester Keith Piggott (5 November 1935 – 29 May 2022) was an English professional jockey and horse trainer. With 4,493 career flat racing wins in Britain, including a record nine Epsom Derby victories, he is widely regarded as one of the grea ...

in 1984 and 1994, disabled marathon runner Dennis Moore in 1981, comedian David Walliams in 2006, and comedian

Eddie Izzard Suzy Eddie Izzard ( ; born Edward John Izzard, 7 February 1962) is a British stand-up comedian, actor and activist. Her comedic style takes the form of what appears to the audience as rambling whimsical monologues and self-referential pantomi ...

in 2009.

Sebastian Coe Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, (born 29 September 1956), often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British sports administrator, former politician and retired track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, incl ...

picked up a Special Gold Award in 2005 for his work in helping Britain obtain the right to host the 2012 Olympics. Five awards have been presented once: Manager of the Year in 1969, a Special Team Award in 1986, Good Sport Awards in 1990, an International Team Award in 1983, and the Sports Personality of the Century Award in 1999. In 2003, to celebrate fifty years of Sports Personality of the Year, two special anniversary awards were created to recognise the best team and Sports Personality from the previous fifty years. Rower Steve Redgrave was voted BBC Golden Sports Personality of the Year and England's 1966 World Cup-winning football team was chosen as Team of the Decades.

BBC Northern Ireland BBC Northern Ireland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is widely available across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. BBC Northern Ireland is one of the four BB ...

and

BBC Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, ...

present a trophy for athletes within their own nations at the same time as the main award, but organised within the region; the Northern Ireland award is conspicuously awarded to athletes whether they represent all of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Great Britain and Northern Ireland or even the Republic of Ireland or Europe (e.g. in golf), so long as they are from Northern Ireland.

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, employing approximately 1,250 staff as of 2017, to produce 15,000 hours of television and radio programming per year. BBC Scotla ...

ceased presenting their own award in the late 2000s, and England has never had such an award.

List of given awards

History

Creation and early years

The

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's Sports Personality of the Year was created by Paul Fox, who came up with the idea while he was editor of the magazine show '' Sportsview''. The first award ceremony took place as part of a special gala edition of ''Sportsview'' held at the Savoy Hotel on 30 December 1954. The show lasted 45 minutes and was presented by

Peter Dimmock Peter Harold Moss Dimmock (6 December 1920 – 20 November 2015) was a British sports broadcaster, television producer and television executive for the BBC. He began his career as a racing correspondent for the PA Media, Press Association bef ...

. The ceremony was combined with two other awards, the sportsman and sportswoman of the year, which were determined by votes through the ''Sporting Record'' newspaper. The newspaper had presented their sportsman of the year award since 1946, to which they later added a sportswoman of the year award. The award for the 1953 ''Sporting Record'' winners had been broadcast on BBC radio in April 1954. Voting for the BBC award was by postcard, and rules presented in a ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by John Reith, then general manage ...

'' article stipulated that nominations were restricted to athletes who had featured on the ''Sportsview'' programme since April. For the inaugural BBC Sportsperson of the Year award, 14,517 votes were cast and

Christopher Chataway Sir Christopher John Chataway (31 January 1931 – 19 January 2014) was a British middle- and long-distance runner, television news broadcaster and Conservative politician. Education Chataway was born in Chelsea, London, the son of James Deny ...

beat fellow athlete

Roger Bannister Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister (23 March 1929 – 3 March 2018) was an English neurologist and middle-distance athlete who ran the first sub- 4-minute mile. At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Bannister set a British record in the 1500 metres and ...

. The following year the show was renamed ''Sports Review of the Year'' and given a longer duration of 75 minutes. The award continued to be held together with the sportsman and sportswoman of the year awards until 1958, by which time the latter awards were being organised by the ''Daily Express''. From 1959 the BBC award ceremony was separated from the sportsman and sportswoman of the year awards.

1960s

In 1960 Dimmock presented the show, and introduced two new awards: the Team of the Year award and the Overseas Personality award, won by the Cooper Car Company and athlete Herb Elliott respectively.

David Coleman David Robert Coleman (26 April 1926 – 21 December 2013) was a British sports commentator and television presenter who worked for the BBC for 46 years. He covered eleven Summer Olympic Games from 1960 to 2000 and six FIFA World Cups from 196 ...

joined the show the following year and remained a co-presenter until 1983. Swimmer Anita Lonsbrough became the first female recipient of the main award in 1962; females won it in the following two years as well. Frank Bough took over as presenter in 1964 and presented Sports Review for 18 years. In 1969, a new Manager of the Year award was given to

Don Revie Donald George Revie (10 July 1927 – 26 May 1989) was an English footballer and manager. He is best known for managing Leeds United from 1961 until 1974, winning the Football League First Division twice and the FA Cup once, before being the Eng ...

for his achievements with

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

, the only occasion it was presented. In the following year boxer

Henry Cooper Sir Henry Cooper (3 May 19341 May 2011) was a British heavyweight boxer. He was undefeated in British and Commonwealth heavyweight championship contests for twelve years and held the European heavyweight title for three years. In a 1963 fi ...

became the first person to win the main award twice, having already won in 1967.

1970s and 1980s

During the 1970s Bough and Coleman presided over the ceremony alongside

Jimmy Hill James William Thomas Hill, Order of the British Empire, OBE (22 July 1928 – 19 December 2015) was an English football in England, footballer and later a television personality. His career included almost every role in the sport, including pla ...

, Cliff Morgan,

Kenneth Wolstenholme Kenneth Wolstenholme, DFC & Bar (17 July 1920 – 25 March 2002) was an English football commentator for BBC television in the 1950s and 1960s. He is best remembered for his commentary during the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final; in the closing min ...

, and Harry Carpenter, who also went on to present the show until 1985.

Des Lynam Desmond Michael Lynam (born 17 September 1942) is an Irish-born British television and radio presenter. In a broadcasting career spanning more than forty years, he has hosted television coverage of many of the world's major sporting events, pr ...

took over as main host from Bough in 1983, and presided over figure skating duo

Torvill and Dean Torvill and Dean ( Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean) are British ice dancers and former British, European, Olympic, and World champions. At the Sarajevo 1984 Winter Olympics the pair won gold and became the highest-scoring figure skat ...

's win the following year, when they became the first non-individual winners of the main award. Steve Rider replaced Carpenter as co-host in 1986, at which a Special Team Award was presented to Great Britain men's 4 x 400 m relay team. In the 1980s,

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a Sports commentator, commentator, DJ, electronic musician and author. He dominated professional snooker in the 1980s, when he reached eight ...

finished in the top three on five occasions, including one win in 1988.

1990s

In 1991, angler Bob Nudd received the most votes following a campaign in the '' Angling Times''. However, the BBC deemed this to be against the rules and refused to acknowledge his votes, allowing athlete Liz McColgan to win the award. The following year racing driver

Nigel Mansell Nigel Ernest James Mansell (; born 8 August 1953) is a British former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Mansell won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Williams, and won 31 Grands Prix across 15 seasons ...

became the second person to win the main award twice, having won his first in 1986.

Sue Barker Susan Barker (born 19 April 1956) is a British former television presenter and professional tennis player. During her playing career, Barker won 15 WTA Tour-level singles titles, including a major at the 1976 French Open. She reached a career- ...

presented the show for the first time in 1994, at which racing driver

Damon Hill Damon Graham Devereux Hill (born 17 September 1960) is an English former racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to . Hill won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Williams, and won 22 Grands Prix acr ...

won the first of his two awards, the second coming two years later. Boxer Frank Bruno was the inaugural winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996, and as of 2014 there have been 15 recipients of the award. In 1999 the show was renamed ''Sports Personality of the Year'', and

joined the show as a co-presenter alongside Rider and Barker. They were supported that year by John Inverdale and

Clare Balding Clare Victoria Balding (born 29 January 1971) is an English broadcast journalist and author. She currently presents programmes for BBC Sport and Channel 4, and previously for BT Sport. She also formerly presented ''Good Morning Sunday'' on BBC ...

. The ceremony introduced a further three regular awards: Coach of the Year, Newcomer of the Year, and a Helen Rollason Award for "outstanding courage and achievement in the face of adversity". In a one-off award, boxer

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and social activist. A global cultural icon, widely known by the nickname "The Greatest", he is often regarded as the gr ...

was voted as the Sports Personality of the Century.

2000s

50th anniversary (2003)

On 1 November 2003,

BBC Books BBC Books (also formerly known as BBC Consumer Publishing and BBC Publishing) is an imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division. The minority shareholder is BBC Studios, the commercial subsidia ...

published "BBC Sports Personality of the Year 50th Anniversary" (), written by Steve Rider and Martyn Smith, to mark the golden anniversary of the show. Leading up to the anniversary show on 14 December 2003, a series of five half-hour special programmes, entitled ''Simply The Best – Sports Personality'', were broadcast. Hosted by Gary Lineker, the episodes were shown on

for five consecutive nights from 8–12 December 2003; each covered one decade of Sports Personality history. At the end of each programme, viewers voted for their favourite Sports Personality winner from the decade covered; the five winners then went onto a shortlist for one of two special 50th Anniversary awards. From this shortlist, rower Steve Redgrave was voted Golden Sports Personality of the Year by the public. The

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

World Cup-winning team of 1966 won a Team of the Decades award, voted for by representatives from all previous Teams of the Year.

2006–2009

In 2006, for the first time in its 53-year history, the event was held outside London, in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

National Exhibition Centre The National Exhibition Centre (NEC) is an exhibition centre located in Marston Green, England, near to Birmingham and Solihull. It is near junction 6 of the M42 motorway, and is adjacent to Birmingham Airport and Birmingham International rail ...

(NEC). For the first time, tickets for the event were made available to the public, and 3,000 were sold in the first hour. That year,

Adrian Chiles Adrian Chiles (born 21 March 1967) is a British writer and television and radio presenter. He has co-presented both '' The One Show'' (2007–2010) and '' Daybreak'' (2010–2011) with Christine Lampard. He was also the chief presenter for fo ...

joined the show and co-presented alongside Barker and Lineker for two years. The 2007 ceremony was the first of a two-year sponsorship deal with

Britvic Britvic was a British producer of soft drinks based in Hemel Hempstead, England. It produced soft drinks under its own name, as well as several other brands. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by Carlsberg Group an ...

's brand Robinsons, and the capacity of the NEC was increased from 5,000 to 8,000. The event sold out, but the sponsorship deal was shortened to one year after complaints by ITV and RadioCentre caused the

BBC Trust The BBC Trust was the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) between 2007 and 2017. It was operationally independent of BBC management and external bodies, and its stated aim was to make decisions in the best interests of ...

to rule in that "Editorial Guidelines were breached and the editorial integrity of the BBC compromised by giving the impression to licence fee payers via Sports Personality of the Year that part of a BBC service had been sponsored." They decided that the 2008 awards should not be broadcast as a sponsored event, and no new sponsorship deal was negotiated after the Britvic deal expired. In , the BBC announced that the 2008 Sports Personality of the Year event would be held at the

Echo Arena Liverpool Arena, known for sponsorship reasons as the M&S Bank Arena and previously the Echo Arena, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the city centre of Liverpool, England. The venue hosts live music, comedy performances and sporting events, ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. One reason for the move to Liverpool was to allow greater numbers to view the show live, as the 10,600-seater venue in Liverpool had a bigger capacity than the NEC. That year

Jake Humphrey Jacob John Humphrey (born 7 October 1978) is an English television presenter, best known for formerly hosting Champions League football on BT Sport, CBBC's '' Bamzooki'' and BBC Sport's coverage of Formula 1 Grand Prix. Early life Born i ...

replaced Chiles as co-presenter. The 2009 show was rumoured to be held in either Cardiff or Glasgow. However, it was announced on 2009 that the show would be staged at the

Sheffield Arena Sheffield Arena, known for sponsorship purposes as Utilita Arena Sheffield, is a multi-purpose arena located in Sheffield, England. It is situated near Meadowhall Centre, Meadowhall and lies between Sheffield city centre and Rotherham town centr ...

, after the city won the hosting rights over Cardiff.

2010s

The 2010 ceremony was held in Birmingham's LG Arena with approximately 12,000 guests. The ceremony in 2011 was held at Salford's dock10 Studios within

MediaCityUK MediaCityUK is a mixed-use property development on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal in City of Salford, Salford, Greater Manchester, England. The project was developed by The Peel Group, Peel Media; its principal tenants are Mass media, ...

. The 2012 ceremony took place at ExCeL London, which had been one of the major venues for both the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

and

Paralympics The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

earlier that year. The 60th ceremony in 2013 was held at the First Direct Arena in Leeds. In

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, the ceremony was held in Scotland for the first time in its history, at The

SSE Hydro The OVO Hydro is a multi-purpose indoor arena located within the Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow, Scotland. The arena was initially named The Scottish Hydro Arena after its main sponsor Scottish Hydro Electric. During construction, Scottish ...

in Glasgow, which had served as a host venue during the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

earlier in the year. In

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, the ceremony was held in Northern Ireland for the first time, at the SSE Arena in Belfast, on 20 December. The event returned to Birmingham and Liverpool in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

and

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

respectively. The 2018 ceremony took place in Birmingham, marking the city's fifth time hosting the event (3rd time at the same venue). In 2018 the

BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year The BBC World Sport Star of the Year (formerly known as the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year) is an award presented at the annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year award ceremony. The award is presented to a non-British sportsperson c ...

award was renamed World Sport Star of the Year. Along with the change of name, votes could be cast from outside of the UK for the first time. In addition a new award was announced: Greatest Sporting Moment of the Year. For the main award, the nominees would not be announced until the show itself. The 2019 ceremony took place in The Event Complex in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

2020s

The 2020 ceremony took place on 20 December at the dock10 studios in Salford. Despite the national COVID-19 restrictions, the event was broadcast live on BBC One and hosted by Lineker, Balding,

Gabby Logan Gabrielle Nicole Logan (''née'' Yorath; born 24 April 1973) is a Welsh television and radio presenter, and a former rhythmic gymnast who represented Wales and Great Britain. She hosted '' Final Score'' for BBC Sport from 2009 until 2013. She h ...

and for the first time, Alex Scott. Boxer

Tyson Fury Tyson Luke Fury (born 12 August 1988) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2008 to 2024. He held multiple world heavyweight championships, including unified titles from 2015 to 2016, the '' Ring'' magazine title twice bet ...

created controversy ahead of the awards by rejecting his nomination and instructing his legal team to force the BBC to exclude him from the shortlist. Despite his protestations, Fury remained on the shortlist for the trophy which was won for the second time by

Lewis Hamilton Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver who competes in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari. Hamilton has won a joint-record seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles—tied with M ...

. Also awarded that year was the Expert Panel Special Award, awarded to footballer

Marcus Rashford Marcus Rashford (born 31 October 1997) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for Premier League club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa, on Loan (association football), lo ...

for his campaign against child food poverty. In May 2024, it was announced that under the BBC's "competitive tender" policy, Whisper North had won the tender to produce the ceremony.

Trophy

The trophy for the main award was created in the 1950s and cost about £1,000. It was first presented to the inaugural winner,

, in 1954. It is a silver-plated four-turret lens

camera A camera is an instrument used to capture and store images and videos, either digitally via an electronic image sensor, or chemically via a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. As a pivotal technology in the fields of photograp ...

, with the name of each winner engraved on individual shields attached to a

plinth A pedestal or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In civil engineering, it is also called ''basement''. The minimum height o ...

underneath the camera. The trophy originally had one plinth, but two more were added to create room for more shields. A replica trophy was made in 1981 and sent to India in case Ian Botham won the award while playing cricket there—which he did. The original trophy is still used for the ceremony, and is engraved after the show before being given to the winner, who keeps it for eight or nine months. The trophies for second and third place, and for the other awards, are smaller imitations of the main trophy, but have in the past been silver

salver A salver is a flat heavy tray of silver, other metal or glass used for carrying or serving glasses, cups, and dishes at a table, or for the presenting of a letter or card by a servant. In a royal or noble household the fear of poisoning led to ...

s. For the two special awards celebrating the 50th Anniversary, and for the Sports Personality of the Century award, similar miniature trophies were presented but they were gold in colour.

Regional and national awards

Currently two BBC national regions,

BBC Cymru Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, ...

and

, each hold individual sports personality awards. Respectively, they are BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the Year since 1954, and BBC Northern Ireland Sports Personality of the Year since 2003. In 1977,

presented their own equivalent for the first time but this has since been discontinued. The 12 local

BBC English Regions BBC English Regions is the division of the BBC responsible for local and regional television, radio, World Wide Web, web, and teletext services in England, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands. It is one of the BBC's four "nations" – the ...

also have their own award ceremonies, which are held locally prior to the national ceremony. Also, fifteen regional winners comprise the nominees for the BBC Sports Unsung Hero Award.

Intermittent and one-off awards

Manager of the Year

In 1969,

was presented with a Manager of the Year award for his achievements while in charge of

Leeds United A.F.C. Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

Leeds became champions of the

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

that

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

, having lost only two games and scored a record number of points. (Note: Requires

RealPlayer RealPlayer, formerly RealAudio Player, RealOne Player and RealPlayer G2, is a cross-platform media player (software), media player app, developed by RealNetworks. The media player is compatible with numerous container file formats of the multimed ...

software).

Special Achievement Award

In 1981, to recognise the year of the disabled, Dennis Moore received a Special Achievement Award for completing the inaugural

London Marathon The London Marathon (also known as the TCS London Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an annual marathon held in London, England. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held in April, although it moved to Oct ...

despite being blind since birth.

won an award in 1984 for his achievements, including winning the St. Leger Stakes on Commanche Run that year, Piggott's record-breaking 28th British classic win. (Note: Requires

software). In 1994, Piggott won the award again for his "services to racing". Comedian David Walliams received the award in 2006 "for his outstanding achievement of swimming the English Channel for charity", which raised over £1 million for

Sport Relief ''Sport Relief'' was a wikt:biennial, biennial charity event from Comic Relief, in association with BBC Sport, established in 2002. It was the idea of Kevin Cahill, CBE, who had joined Comic Relief in 1991 to establish a new department as Dire ...

. Fellow comedian

was presented with the award in 2009 after running 43 marathons in 51 days for

International Team Award

In 1983, the team of '' Australia II'' received an International Team Award in recognition of their victory in the

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

America's Cup The America's Cup is a sailing competition and the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one from the yacht club that currently holds the trophy (known ...

. The American defender ''Liberty'' had taken a 3–1 lead in races, but ''Australia II'' came back to win 4–3 and take the America's Cup, ending a 132-year winning streak by the

New York Yacht Club The New York Yacht Club (NYYC) is a private social club and yacht club based in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1844 by nine prominent sportsmen. The members have contributed to the sport of yachting and yacht design. ...

. It was the first time the competition had gone to a seventh and final race. (Note: Requires

software)

Special Team Award

In 1986, a Special Team Award was presented to the British 4 × 400m squad of Derek Redmond, Kriss Akabusi,

Brian Whittle Brian Ian Whittle (born 26 April 1964) is a Scottish politician and former athlete, who has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the South Scotland region since 2016. A member of the Scottish Conservatives, he serves as Shadow Mi ...

, Roger Black, Todd Bennett, and Phil Brown, who won gold at the

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

. Akabusi, Black, Bennett and Brown also won gold for England in the 4 x 400 m at the

that year. (Note: Requires

software)

Good Sport Awards

In 1990, Good Sport Awards were presented for courage and good sportsmanship to Derek Warwick, Martin Donnelly, Louise Aitken-Walker and Tina Thörner, who were all involved in motor racing accidents that year. Warwick survived a high speed crash at

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

; Donnelly crashed during a practice session for the

Spanish Grand Prix The Spanish Grand Prix (, ) is a Formula One motor racing event currently held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The race is one of the oldest in the world still contested, celebrating its centenary in 2013. The race had modest beginnings ...

—the injuries he received ended his Formula One career; Aitken-Walker and co-driver Thörner crashed off a cliff into a lake in Portugal when competing in the women's World Rally Championship, which they went on to win that year.

Sports Personality of the Century Award

In 1999, a one-off award voted for by the British public selected a Sports Personality of the Century.

accumulated more votes from BBC viewers than the combined total of the five other contenders:

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; 23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022), better known by his nickname Pelé (), was a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Widely reg ...

George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional association football, footballer who played as a winger (association football), winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United F.C., Manchester Un ...

Donald Bradman Sir Donald George Bradman (27 August 1908 – 25 February 2001), nicknamed "The Don", was an Australian international cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time. His cricketing successes have been claimed by Shane ...

Jack Nicklaus Jack William Nicklaus (; born January 21, 1940), nicknamed "the Golden Bear", is an American retired professional golfer and List of golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greate ...

, and

Jesse Owens James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete who made history at the Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics, 1936 Olympic Games by becoming the first person to win four gold meda ...

Special Gold Award

In 2005,

received a Special Gold Award for chairing

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

's winning bid for the 2012 Summer Olympic and

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

games.

Greatest Sporting Moment of the Year

Expert Panel Special Award

In 2020,

received an Expert Panel Special Award for his campaign for free school meals during the COVID-19 pandemic and against child food poverty. In 2022,

Kevin Sinfield Kevin Sinfield (born 12 September 1980) is an English rugby union coach, currently the skills and kicking coach for the England national rugby union team, England national team. He is a former professional rugby league player for Leeds Rhinos, ...

received a Special Award for raising awareness of and fundraising for

motor neurone disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, terminal neurodegenerative disorder that results in the progressive loss of both upper and low ...

50th Anniversary awards

As part of the 50th Anniversary of BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2003, two additional awards were presented. In the lead up to the anniversary show on 2003, a series of five half-hour special programmes, entitled ''Simply The Best – Sports Personality'', were broadcast. Hosted by

, the episodes were shown on

for five consecutive nights from 8 to 2003 and each covered one decade of Sports Personality.

Golden Sports Personality of the Year

To celebrate the golden anniversary of the show, a special award was voted for by the public to recognise an all-time Golden Sports Personality from the previous winners of the last 49 years. A shortlist of five was planned to contain one winner from each decade of the award; however, the actual shortlist contained two winners from the most recent decade—rower Steve Redgrave, who won the award, and footballer

David Beckham Sir David Robert Joseph Beckham ( ; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Primarily a right winger and known for his range of passing, cross ...

. The other members of the shortlist were footballer

Bobby Moore Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore (12 April 1941 – 24 February 1993) was an English professional footballer. He captained West Ham United for more than ten years, and was the captain of the England national team that won the 1966 FIFA ...

, cricketer Ian Botham and ice skating duo

Team of the Decades

Alf Ramsey Sir Alfred Ernest Ramsey (22 January 1920 – 28 April 1999) was an English association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager. As a player, he represented England national football team, the England national ...

's squad won a poll to select a Team of the Decade for the 50th anniversary show. Representatives from each of the past winners of the Team of the Year award voted for their outstanding team of the last 50 years.

Bobby Robson Sir Robert William Robson (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009) was an English football player and coach. His career included periods playing for and later managing the England national team and being a UEFA Cup-winning manager at Ipswich Town. ...

presented the award to

Bobby Charlton Sir Robert Charlton (11 October 1937 – 21 October 2023) was an English professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder, left winger or centre-forward. Widely considered one of the greatest players of all time, he was a member ...

, who collected the award on behalf of the late

's team.

References

;General * ;Specific

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bbc Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime achievement awards 1954 establishments in the United Kingdom Awards established in 1954 BBC Television Service (TV network) original programming BBC One original programming Annual sporting events in the United Kingdom