BBC SPOTY 2013: Murray wins by a landslide

2013 BBC SPOTY WINNERS

SPOTY	Andy Murray	Tennis
Team of the Year	British & Irish Lions	Rugby Union
Coach of the Year	Warren Gatland	Rugby Union
Overseas SPOTY	Sebastian Vettel	Formula One
Young SPOTY	Amber Hill	Shooting
Diamond SPOTY	Sir Alex Ferguson	Football
Unsung Hero	Joe & Maggie Forber	Basketball
Helen Rollason Award	Anne Williams	Football

WIMBLEDON champion Andy Murray won the clearest ever victory in the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year contest last night.

Murray, who became the first British male to win in the Singles on the grass at SW19 in 77 years, took more than half of all the votes cast.

And so the Scot finished well clear of the runner-up, the British & Irish Lions full back Leigh Halfpenny, and record-breaking jockey Tony McCoy, who was in third.

"I'd like to thank all the public who voted, for giving me so much support over the last couple of years," said Murray. "It's made a huge difference."

Now, as even Murray suggested there himself, this award represented the end of an ultimately triumphant long road to acceptance from the wider British public.

But it was not always thus. Guarded in his television appearances off the court, Murray was a difficult character to warm towards, particularly in the midst of an on-court tantrum.

Perhaps this is also the reason why an off-hand joke to Tim Henman as a 17-year-old about supporting anyone but England at the World Cup hung around him like an albatross for so long.

Last but not least, it did not help that he was perceived as a bit of a loser, a better player than Henman no doubt - but unfortunately born into a harsher era against the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

Murray did indeed lose his first four Grand Slam finals. However, he then cleverly recruited the only man who previously had that record as a coach.

It was surely the wisest move of his career. Lendl knew where Murray was at mentally and has helped him overcome those barriers by making him so physically fit, the gruelling five-setters are no longer a problem.

First, though, there was still more heartbreak when Murray lost to Federer in the 2012 Wimbledon final despite taking the first set and then broke down in floods of tears on Centre Court.

Pain was all around that day but, in the long run, it helped.

It made Murray ever more determined and, by the end of an extraordinary British sporting summer, he had taken Olympic gold against Federer at Wimbledon and won his first Grand Slam at the US Open in New York against Djokovic.

However, his victory at Flushing Meadows was in the middle of the night here in Britain, and it hardly made a dent in lifting the Wimbledon curse.

This year, then, Murray still had work to do and pressure to deal with - but deal with it he did, landing himself in another Wimbledon final, this time against Djokovic.

Again, Murray took the first set but then he also came out on top against the then-world number one in a topsy-turvy second.

The scene was set and it was perfect. A hot sunny July day ended with Murray winning in straight sets to send the public into disbelieving raptures.

From then on, the man from Dunblane was an odds-on favourite for this prize and eventually he dropped as low as 1/50 in the betting once the telephone lines opened.

The BBC consequently had a difficult job to hype up an entirely predictable outcome. Murray also expressed disappointment that he could not personally attend the First Direct Arena in Leeds.

Professional as ever, though, he felt obliged to put his return to fitness ahead of the Australian Open in January above SPOTY.

At least, the live link to Miami worked this time - well, it did once Murray, running late from a training session, had stepped out of the shower.

---
In terms of the other awards, the British & Irish Lions were well-rewarded for their efforts Down Under, helped no doubt by their main rivals - England's Ashes cricketers - flopping there at the moment.

The Lions won Team of the Year for their 2-1 series victory while their Kiwi mentor Warren Gatland took Coach of the Year.

As mentioned, Lendl must have surely been strongly in the running for that prize considering all of his work with Murray.

But Gatland, too, deserved huge credit following some pretty heavy criticism after his decision to drop Brian O'Driscoll for a final Test which ended up being a Lions mauling.

Sebastian Vettel became the first Formula One driver to win the Overseas SPOTY Award since Niki Lauda in 1977 after his complete domination of the sport over the past four seasons broke new ground in 2013.

The Young SPOTY prize went to 16-year-old skeet shooter Amber Hill who beat athlete Dina Asher-Smith and golfer Charley Hull on an all-female shortlist.

And the Unsung Hero award went to spouses Joe and Maggie Forber for their hard work at the Amaechi Basketball Centre in Whalley Range, Manchester.

The £2m facility is named after the club's most famous graduate, John Amaechi, who has gone on to play in the NBA for Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic, and Utah Jazz.

Finally, two football figures were honoured for entirely different reasons. Former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson picked up the one-off Diamond Award having retired from an illustrious management career following a record 13th English league title in May.

Still, this was a slightly strange choice from the BBC for a prize celebrating 60 years of the programme, considering Ferguson refused to speak to the broadcaster for many years.

Now, it could just be considered an olive branch - but the more cynical viewer would consider it was possibly the only way of ensuring he would appear on the show.

There was nothing cynical about the other football prize, the Helen Rollason Award, awarded posthumously to Hillsborough campaigner Anne Williams to an emotional standing ovation.

Anne, who lost her son Kevin in the crush died, in April from cancer this year. She had spent more than a third of her 62 years fighting for justice.

In September 2012, there was a belated victory of sorts in that the ridiculous original inquest verdicts were overturned.

The new inquest verdicts are expected in the early part of next year, 25 years on from the tragedy.

Anne, of course, will not be around to see the outcome of those cases. Nevertheless, this was a fitting acknowledgement of all of her hard work that may at last ensure there is some justice for the 96.

60 YEARS OF SPOTY
By year:

1954	Christopher Chataway	Athletics	1984	Torvill & Dean	Figure skating
1955	Gordon Pirie	Athletics	1985	Barry McGuigan	Boxing
1956	Jim Laker	Cricket	1986	Nigel Mansell	Formula One
1957	Dai Rees	Golf	1987	Fatima Whitbread	Athletics
1958	Ian Black	Swimming	1988	Steve Davis	Snooker
1959	John Surtees	Motorcycle	1989	Nick Faldo	Golf
1960	David Broome	Show jumping	1990	Paul Gascoigne	Football
1961	Stirling Moss	Formula One	1991	Liz McColgan	Athletics
1962	Anita Lonsbrough	Swimming	1992	Nigel Mansell	Formula One
1963	Dorothy Hyman	Athletics	1993	Linford Christie	Athletics
1964	Mary Rand	Athletics	1994	Damon Hill	Formula One
1965	Tom Simpson	Cycling	1995	Jonathan Edwards	Athletics
1966	Bobby Moore	Football	1996	Damon Hill	Formula One
1967	Henry Cooper	Boxing	1997	Greg Rusedski	Tennis
1968	David Hemery	Athletics	1998	Michael Owen	Football
1969	Ann Jones	Tennis	1999	Lennox Lewis	Boxing
1970	Henry Cooper	Boxing	2000	Steve Redgrave	Rowing
1971	Princess Anne	Eventing	2001	David Beckham	Football
1972	Mary Peters	Athletics	2002	Paula Radcliffe	Athletics
1973	Jackie Stewart	Formula One	2003	Jonny Wilkinson	Rugby Union
1974	Brendan Foster	Athletics	2004	Kelly Holmes	Athletics
1975	David Steele	Cricket	2005	Andrew Flintoff	Cricket
1976	John Curry	Figure skating	2006	Zara Phillips	Eventing
1977	Virginia Wade	Tennis	2007	Joe Calzaghe	Boxing
1978	Steve Ovett	Athletics	2008	Chris Hoy	Cycling
1979	Sebastian Coe	Athletics	2009	Ryan Giggs	Football
1980	Robin Cousins	Figure skating	2010	Tony McCoy	Horse racing
1981	Ian Botham	Cricket	2011	Mark Cavendish	Cycling
1982	Daley Thompson	Athletics	2012	Bradley Wiggins	Cycling
1983	Steve Cram	Athletics	2013	Andy Murray	Tennis

By sport:
17 Athletics
6 Formula One
5 Football, Boxing
4 Cricket, Tennis Cycling
3 Figure skating
2 Golf, Swimming, Eventing
1 Snooker, Rugby Union, Rowing, Show jumping, Horse racing, Motorcycle racing