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.
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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
