BBC SPOTY 2014: Hamilton finishes first again

2014 BBC SPOTY WINNERS

SPOTY	Lewis Hamilton	Formula One
Team of the Year	England women's team	Rugby Union
Coach of the Year	Paul McGinley	Golf
Overseas SPOTY	Cristiano Ronaldo	Football
Young SPOTY	Claudia Fragapane	Gymnastics
Lifetime Achievement	Sir Chris Hoy	Cycling
Unsung Hero	Jill Stidever	Swimming
Helen Rollason Award	Invictus Games competitors	Various

FORMULA ONE world champion Lewis Hamilton won the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year award in a star-studded show at the SSE Hydro arena in Glasgow.

Hamilton had been a SPOTY runner-up in 2007 and 2008, having won his first world crown in the latter year.

But this time he finished in his more familiar position of first, with 209,920 (34%) of the 620,932 votes cast.

That was enough to beat pre-show odds-on favourite, world number one golfer Rory McIlroy, while third place went to athlete Jo Pavey.

In fairness to him, McIlroy could not have done much more to win the annual award, having triumphed in two of golf's four majors before playing a leading role in Europe easily retaining the Ryder Cup.

McIlroy should not despair, however. Perhaps he will win SPOTY next year having completed his very own "Rory Slam" by taking the first two major titles of 2015.

Third-placed Pavey had the most engaging human interest story of the year. Aged 40, and a mother of two, the Devonian won the first major title of her career in taking 10,000m gold at the European Championships in Zurich.

In doing so, she became the oldest female to win a gold medal in the history of the championships, and - for good measure - added a bronze in the 5000m in the Commonwealth Games.

Nevertheless, Hamilton's season-long title tussle with Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg also really captured the public attention.

Flashpoints in Monaco, Hungary and Belgium culminated in a final race in the United Arab Emirates where the controversial double points ruling had kept Rosberg's challenge alive.

But, as a result of Hamilton's brilliant start and Rosberg's subsequent mechanical problems, the much-anticipated Duel in the Desert never materialised - and so the Englishman became just the 16th man to win multiple world titles.

On the way, he had picked up 11 Grand Prix victories, taking his overall total to 33, more than any other British racer.

And it was clear, just a few weeks ago, exactly how much his second world title had meant to him.

He said at the time: "2008 was a great year in my life. The feeling I have now is way, way past that. The greatest feeling ever." 

On Sunday, he was similarly unable to express just how much the award meant to him.

"I want to say a huge thank you to all the people who called in, I really wasn't expecting it," he said. "I am so speechless. I'm so proud and honoured to be among such great sporting talent."

Other awards
Meanwhile, Sir Chris Hoy carried off arguably the biggest prize of the night, a Lifetime Achievement award, in a worthy acknowledgement of Britain's most successful Olympian.

The Scot, who claimed the main SPOTY prize in 2008 following a hat-trick of golds at the Beijing Olympics, won six Olympic titles overall.

And he was clearly emotional as he picked up his trophy in Glasgow last night.

"I never thought I'd see my name alongside Sir Steve Redgrave, David Beckham and Seve Ballesteros," he said, before adding: "I became a dad eight weeks ago. He was in hospital for eight weeks and finally came out last week and we got him home.

"I'm sure he'll be watching it on telly."

Unusually, the triumphant European Ryder Cup squad did not win the Team of the Year - although it was difficult to argue against the actual winners, the England women's rugby union team, who won the World Cup in August.

Instead, the Ryder Cup golfers gained representation in the ceremony through Paul McGinley, the 48-year-old Irishman becoming the first golf coach to win in this category.

The Overseas SPOTY was always likely to go to a footballer in World Cup year - but, ultimately, the month-long extravaganza in Brazil had little effect in the outcome.

For, while Portugal went out as early as England, their talisman Cristiano Ronaldo had a marvellous individual year, hitting 51 goals in 2013-14 as his club Real Madrid won a record 10th European Cup.

Meanwhile, the first award presented on the night - the Young Sports Personality of the Year - went to 17-year-old gymnast Claudia Fragapane.

She became the first Englishwoman to win four golds at a single Commonwealth Games in 84 years and celebrated with a SPOTY selfie on Twitter.

Finally, in terms of the other two awards: 77-year-old swimming coach Jill Stidever took the Unsung Hero prize for dedicating her life to helping thousands of children with special needs.

And the Helen Rollason award - for athletes who have shown "outstanding achievement in the face of adversity" - went to all of the inaugural Invictus Games competitors.

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

SPOTY 2012: Wiggo wins again

SPOTY
BRADLEY WIGGINS hailed his "greatest sporting achievement" after he won the 59th BBC Sports Personality of the Year award at the ExCel Arena in London on Sunday night. 

Wiggins - or Wiggo as he has been nicknamed - beat heptathlete star Jessica Ennis and tennis ace Andy Murray in the most prestigious staging of the awards ceremony in its history.

The 32-year-old cyclist won the toughest SPOTY choice ever having been the first Briton in history to win the Tour de France before he took Olympic time trial gold on the streets of London.

And, while Wiggins' win was well deserved, this was frankly such an outstanding year for British sport that any of the 12 contenders would have won the prize in any other year.

After all, double Olympic champion Laura Trott did not even make the cut - in sharp contrast to some of the winners in earlier, rather more inauspicious years.

Personally, my preference was for the main award to go to Mo Farah for providing prime-time must-watch viewing on successive Saturday nights in his 5,000m and 10,000m triumphs in the Olympic Stadium. 

But, Mo-Bots and Wiggo sideburns aside, all of the contenders for the main award had an amazing backstory or a unique selling point. 

Runner-up Jessica Ennis, for instance, was an athlete under pressure like no other this summer. As the great American sprinter Michael Johnson pointed out in an excellent video, she was the accepted "Face of the Games", and was expected to win. 

Thankfully, Sheffield-born Ennis is a steely character and she opened her account by running 12.54s in the 100m hurdles, a time that would have won gold in the individual event in 2008. 

Overall, Ennis stormed to gold with victories in three of the seven disciplines over two days, and the golden girl of British sport summed up perfectly just how well these Olympics were going. 

It was no surprise, meanwhile, that Andy Murray took third place in the voting. Remarkably, Britain had been craving a male Grand Slam champion for 77 years and, this year, the man from Dunblane finally delivered. 

First, though, Murray had to suffer more heartache as he broke down in tears after Roger Federer had beaten him in four sets in the Wimbledon final. 

But, if anything, that setback - his fourth Grand Slam final defeat - only spurred Murray on more and he gained revenge over Federer in the Olympics final, again at Wimbledon, winning in straight sets in one of his most complete performances ever. 

That same day, Murray partnered Laura Robson as an unseeded pair in the mixed doubles final. But, despite a gallant effort in which they took the first set, Murray-Robson ultimately had to settle for silver against their opponents, the number one seeds from Belarus. 

Murray was not finished yet. There was one last Grand Slam of the year to go: the US Open at Flushing Meadows in New York. 

There, Murray excelled again, beating Serbian world number one Novak Djokovic in an epic see-saw battle to fulfil his destiny. 

Britain's wait for a Grand Slam champion was over - as was Murray's own wait for a Grand Slam. It was as if the Olympics had never finished.

Murray's fellow Scot, Katherine Grainger, had endured a similar sporting tale. If Murray, until this year, had been the nearly-man, then rower Grainger had been the ultimate nearly-woman with three successive Olympic silvers in Sydney, Beijing and Athens. 

This was a "home" Games, though, and the feeling was that if Grainger could not win Olympic gold at Eton Dorney, then she never would. 

In the end, her superb partnership with Anna Watkins held firm. On the way to the final, the pair broke the double sculls world record, and then - importantly - in the final, they crossed the line first.

One man who has never struggled with doing that is another Scot on the shortlist, Sir Chris Hoy, who won the main award in 2008 after winning three gold medals in Beijing. 

In London, Hoy added another two golds to his collection to take his total to six golds (and one silver). 

And the comeback on the last bend of the Keirin race effectively made him Britain's most decorated Olympian in history, ahead of Sir Steve Redgrave. It is a remarkable career achievement.

Similarly, Paralympians Sarah Storey and David Weir can reflect on an amazing year with four gold medals each. 

Storey - who won five golds as a swimmer in the 1992 and 1996 Paralympic Games - has now added six golds to her tally as a cyclist in Beijing 2008 and London 2012. 

Meanwhile, Weir is now the recognised as the most versatile wheelchair athlete of all time after winning in London over four different distances ranging from 800m to the marathon.

But, for all of Weir and Storey's success, it was quickly established that it was Ellie Simmonds who would be "The Face" of the Paralympic Games. 

Just like Ennis before her, Simmonds delivered brilliantly under pressure, winning two golds, a silver and a bronze in the pool, setting world records in the 200m and 400m S6 freestyle.

Incredibly, Simmonds has just turned 18, and so - without trying to tempt fate - you would expect many more shiny honours will head her way in the years to come.

At the opposite end of the age scale is 35-year-old Ben Ainslie, who made his Olympics debut at Atlanta in 1996, taking silver at the age of 19. 

Since then, Ainslie has only ever known victory and he won his fourth successive gold at Weymouth to become the most decorated sailor in Olympic history.

It was not all plain sailing, however. In the early stages of the competition, Ainslie struggled to keep up with Danish rival Jonas Høgh-Christensen - and matters only got worse when Ainslie was forced into making a penalty turn in race two.

It turned out to be the worst thing that Høgh-Christensen could have done as an angry Ainslie simply became even more determined to win the Battle of the Bay in front of unprecedented crowds for an Olympic sailing event.

The support was also magnificent at the ExCel where Nicola Adams was another British Olympian making history as the first woman in history to win an Olympic boxing gold medal. 

Adams easily defeated Chinese world number one in the final of the flyweight bout - but it was probably her beaming smile and her effervescent personality which people will most remember of the Leeds lass.

And so, that just left Rory McIlroy, an outsider in this selection as the only one of the 12 contenders not to have taken part at either the Olympic or Paralympic Games.

It is not hard to see why McIlroy was chosen, however. The 23-year-old has had another fantastic year out on the course, climbing to the world number one ranking, and winning his second major championship, the PGA, by eight strokes.

Then, just as the sporting summer seemed ready to be put to rest, the Northern Irishman was part of the greatest comeback of the year - by Europe in the Ryder Cup.

This was the sporting year which just kept on giving.


OTHER AWARDS
Unsurprisingly, though, it was the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games which dominated proceedings in all of the other awards as well.

Team GB and Paralympics GB took the Team of the Year award, even though - technically - the decision was against the original rules.

While it does indeed seem like somewhat of a cop-out, the feel-good atmosphere generated by all of the home athletes in London 2012 made it no surprise that the regulations were changed unanimously by the panel.

Having said that, though, the above could have just as appropriately applied to another great team at London 2012, the Games Makers.

The Coach of the Year was Dave Brailsford, a fitting honour for a man who has done so much for elite cycling in this country.

Brailsford has not only overseen the successes of the Team GB cyclists as performance director of British Cycling - but he has also led Team Sky as its general manager, and boldly made the claim that a Briton would win the Tour de France.

His statement was roundly mocked at the time, particularly in the French press - but it is the likes of Wiggins and Brailsford who have got more and more Britons on their bikes and produced this incredible emergence of two-wheeled talent.

The Overseas Sports Personality of the Year was Usain Bolt who takes the prize for the third time in the last five years.

London 2012 was the Olympics in which Bolt went from being a fast man to a self-proclaimed legend after he defended his 100m and 200m Olympic titles in the face of strong competition from his protege Yohan Blake.

Bolt and Blake then teamed up as part of Team Jamaica to storm to a world record 4x100m title, making it six Olympic golds for the Fastest Man on the Planet.

If it was not for Jamaica, the award would have surely gone to Alex Zanardi, and perhaps it still should have done. Former F1 man Zanardi lost both his legs in a Champ Car crash in 2001 but has still managed to sate his competitive instincts by taking up road cycling.

Not only that but the Italian has succeeded, winning gold in the T4-category road race and road time trial, and adding silver in the road race relay. I suppose it just came down to the fact that Bolt is (understandably) a bigger name.

At least I did entirely agree with the Young SPOTY prize going to 15-year-old Jarrow swimmer Josef Craig, Britain's youngest gold medal winner from either the Olympic or the Paralympic Games.

This is, no doubt, a bit parochial - but, rather than the excellent Simmonds, the wonderful Weir, or the supreme Storey, it was Craig smashing two seconds off his own world record in the 400m freestyle S7 final pool which was the highlight of those Games for me.

But it was not just the action which will prove unforgettable from this summer. Yes, actions usually speak louder than words but sometimes it can be the other way around as Lord Sebastian Coe proved in picking up his Lifetime Achievement award.

Lord Coe was simply a fantastic orator this summer and genuinely moved me and made me proud when he signed off the London 2012 Games as chairman with the words: "When our time came, Britain, we did it right."

The speech of the night on Sunday, though, went to Martine Wright, who won the Helen Rollason award as someone who has shown "outstanding achievement in the face of adversity".

Wright's story will forever be intertwined with London 2012. On 6 July 2005, when it was announced by IOC chairman Jacques Rogge that London would host the Olympics seven years later, Wright went out for a few drinks with her work colleagues in celebration.

The following day, running late and attempting to take a shorter route to her office, Wright was caught up in the 7/7 bombings which would kill 52 people.

Wright lost both her legs at Aldgate tube station, and was lucky not to lose her life. Ever since, she considered it her destiny to be part of the London 2012 Games.

That dream was not to go unfulfilled and she qualified as a Paralympics GB team member as a sitting volleyball player.

And there was surely not a dry eye in the house as Wright said: "Thank you all so much for an absolutely fantastic summer."

To which I say - no, thank you for being part of it, Martine.

Wiggins rides into Le Tour history books

BRADLEY WIGGINS became the first Briton to win the yellow jersey in the illustrious 109-year history of the Tour de France today.

The 30-year-old finished three minutes and 21 seconds clear of Team Sky team-mate and compatriot Chris Froome as British cycling ended a drought of more than a century by finishing with a 1-2.

It was not at all clear exactly how the host press and public would react to a British winner, considering the race is steeped in French history.

But, sad as it is for the passionate Parisians, Le Tour has not 'belonged' to France for some years now: in fact, the last home winner was Bernard Hinault in 1985.

Back then, Hinault was winning his fifth Tour and, at that point, the ninth French win in 11 years - but Le Tour is now very much an event of international status and, in fairness, the French press and public treat it as such.

Consequently, Wiggins has been affectionately cast in sports daily L'Equipe as some sort of eccentric Englishman and dubbed "Colonel Wiggo". He has also been appreciated for his rather quaint gentlemanly conduct.

That was in evidence on the Champs-Élysées today when he crafted an almost perfect set-up for another Sky team-mate, the "Manx Missile" Mark Cavendish. 

Cavendish duly delivered a fourth successive win on the most famous rue in Paris for his 23rd stage win in the race overall. 

But it was not only team-mates for which Wiggins has had a sense of fair play. On stage 14, his main rival Cadel Evans suffered a puncture after carpet tacks had been left on the tarmac in either an act of sabotage or rank stupidity.

Wiggins requested that the peleton held back and allowed defending champion Evans and the other affected riders to catch up so that they suffered no disadvantage for their misfortune. It seemed important to Wiggins that this was a fair win.

For, although his team Sky is funded by a multi-million pound operation, having a rich team is all, of course, in the rules.

Unfortunately, part of Le Tour has been overshadowed once again by the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Frank Schleck, of the RadioShack-Nissan team, was the highest-profile casualty of the testers this year.

However, Wiggins is on record as stating that dabbling in such methods was not worth his while - and, even in this cynical modern age, it seems churlish to doubt him.

Instead, a year off the booze has made the Londoner fitter than ever and reach the potential which his contemporaries agree had always been there.

Wiggins, a triple Olympic gold medallist no less, has today reached what he would surely consider to be his pinnacle.

This has of course been a gruelling victory - just as any Tour de France victory is - but, actually, the whole race in the last 21 days has gone about as smoothly as it could.
 
It actually started quietly in Belgium as Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara won the prologue stage, a time trial around Liege.

Wiggins, though, was handily placed in second, just seven seconds down, and importantly ahead of his main rival Australian Cadel Evans.

That position was maintained throughout the opening week as Le Tour ambled around flat ground in the north east of France.

But, as the race headed into Alps, it was inevitable that Wiggins would eventually take the lead in the general classification - and he duly made his move on stage seven.

Cadel, too, had a good first day in the mountains - and the BMC Racing Team rider slotted in just behind Wiggins, only 10 seconds down.

As such, another move was required but he again rose to the occasion in the second individual time trial which took the field from Arc-de-Senans to Besancon.

Wiggins won stage nine for his first ever Tour stage victory. More importantly, his time of 51'24'' meant he went 1'53'' ahead of Aussie Evans.

Froome also made a move in the time trial, ending the day in third place, only 2'07'' down on Wiggins. A rest day followed before an uneventful day on stage 10.

Then, on stage 11, which was still in the Alps, Wiggins and Froome effectively killed off Evans's challenge, with around half the race left.

Evans had actually tried to attack on the Col de la Croix de Fer, just over mid-point of the stage, but Team Sky reeled him back in.

Wiggins and Froome then took advantage of an exhausted Evans who ultimately ended the day 3'19" down on the leader.

Froome, who moved into second, briefly challenged Wiggins, before being advised on his team radio to back down. It was a testament to Team Sky's togetherness that Froome was happy to oblige.

Any thoughts that Wiggins did not deserve this crown, however, were soon dispelled by his performance in the final individual time trial on stage 19.

Already with a lead of 2'05" over Froome, and almost 10 minutes over sixth-placed Evans, Wiggins confirmed his status as the world's best time-trialist by taking his second stage of the year in 1hr 04'13".

The victory increased his lead over Froome to 3'21". Evans, almost 16 minutes behind, was no longer a threat.

In fact, no one was. All that was left for Wiggins was to enjoy his procession into Paris, sip the champagne, and receive the adulation from all quarters.

The congratulations included The Jam front-man Paul Weller who referred to Wiggins' "amazing achievement".

Weller's comments will have meant a lot to Wiggins, who is a well-known fan of the Mod culture... as his haircut and three-inch sideburns testify.

That may be quite a throw-back, but Wiggins' Tour de France win will now be forever marked in history. Britannia finally rules les rues!

Manx Missile Cavendish odds-on for SPOTY prize

BBC Sports Personality of the Year is on BBC One at 8pm tonight. The candidates for the main award are:
Mark Cavendish (cycling)
Age: 26
Place of birth: Douglas, Isle of Man
Achievements: Cavendish won five stages of this year's Tour de France, bringing his total of stage wins in the gruelling race over the past four years to 20. He became the first person to win the final stage on the Champs-Elysees three years in a row as he sealed a first ever green jersey triumph for a British cyclist in the history of the event.
Devil's Advocate: A cyclist as favourite in a non-Olympic year would usually come as a surprise but, such are Cavendish's achievements in the Tour de France, no one would be shocked at the outcome if he wins.
Odds: 1/3 fav

Darren Clarke (golf)
Age: 43
Place of birth: Dungannon, Northern Ireland
Achievements: Clarke finally won his first major in 2011, and it proved to be a special victory, coming in this year's Open Championship at Royal St George in Sandwich. In an emotional post-victory speech, Clarke dedicated his win to his two children and late wife Heather, who lost her battle with breast cancer in 2006. He said: "In terms of what's going through my heart, there's obviously somebody who is watching from up above there, and I know she'd be very proud of me. But I think she'd be more proud of my two boys and them at home watching more than anything else. It's been a long journey to get here."
Devil's Advocate: Clarke's victory came from out of the blue and may be regarded in time as something of a one-off. Also, there are fears of a three-way golf split and a two-way Northern Irish golf split in the vote.
Odds: 5/1

Mo Farah (athletics)
Age: 28
Place of birth: Mogadishu, Somalia
Achievements: Farah provided the highlight of the 2011 World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea for Team GB by taking the silver medal in the 10,000m, and then, with brilliant timing, the gold in the 5,000m. He became the British man to win a global title over either distance.
Devil's Advocate: Farah and his coach Alberto Salazar have stated on record explicitly that their work will not be done until the Somalia-born athletes has won both the 5,000m and 10,000m in the Olympics. If Farah manages to do that at London 2012 then it would be hard to bet against him for next year.
Odds: 12/1

Rory McIlroy (golf)
Age: 22
Place of birth: Carryduff, Co. Down, Northern Ireland
Achievements: McIlroy recovered from a horrible final-day collapse in the first major of the year at the US Masters to become the youngest winner of the US Open since 1923. McIlroy carded a record score of 16-under-par for an eight-shot win to carry off his first major and the young Northern Irishman also moved to a new career-high number two in the world rankings in November.
Devil's Advocate: Like Clarke, McIlroy will be worried about how the golf vote is likely to be split - but, unlike Clarke at least, McIlroy's age gives him the chance to take Tiger Woods' place and dominate his sport for years to come.
Odds: 16/1

Luke Donald (golf)
Age: 34
Place of birth: Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire
Achievements: Donald became number one golfer in the world rankings after winning the BMW PGA Championship in May 2011. He later completed a historic double by winning both the PGA Tour money list and the European Race to Dubai, becoming the first ever player to do this. Finally, he also won the PGA Player of the Year and PGA Tour Player of the Year awards, becoming the first Englishman to win either award.
Devil's Advocate: Donald deserves his number one ranking on the basis of his great consistency, just like Clarke and McIlroy until this year, the Englishman will continued to be dogged by the lack of a major title.  
Odds: 16/1

Alastair Cook (cricket)
Age: 26
Place of birth: Gloucester, Gloucestershire
Achievements: Cook made a mockery of Australian predictions that he was a weak link in the England batting line-up by proving instrumental in the successful defence of the Ashes, a first victory Down Under for England since 1986-7. The Essex batsmen scored 766 runs in the five-match series at an average of 127.66 - second only to Wally Hammond in the 1920s. Additionally, he occupied the crease for over 36 hours, a world record in a five-Test series and an English record even including six-Test series. Back home, Cook was part of the side which beat Sri Lanka 1-0 and India 4-0 on the way to becoming the best team in the world, and he also won his first series as national team captain in the One Day Internationals, beating Sri Lanka 3-2.
Devil's Advocate: Cook looked less impressive as ODI captain in the 4-1 defeat to India which followed the Sri Lanka win but he is a young captain and will learn from his errors. Perhaps more crucially, the Ashes win was almost a year ago and England have not played since September, meaning Cook has hardly featured on the sports' pages recently.
Odds: 66/1

Andrew Strauss (cricket)
Age: 34
Place of birth: Johannesburg, South Africa
Achievements: Strauss led England to successive Ashes victories, captaining the side to three innings victories in the first successful tour in Australia since 1986-7. Strauss played his part Down Under, averaging 43.85 with the bat - but perhaps his finest moment as national team skipper came this summer as his team finally reached the peak of the world rankings after beating India 4-0.
Devil's Advocate:
Odds: 200/1

Dai Greene (athletics)
Age: 25
Place of birth: Felinfoel, Carmarthernshire, Wales
Achievements: After Mo Farah (above), Welsh hurdler Greene won Team GB's only other gold medal in the 2011 World Athletics Championships in Daegu, taking the title with a fine comeback in the 400m hurdles. He is the current holder of European, Commenwealth and world titles in his discipline.
Devil's Advocate: It may seem a little unfair, and certainly does not detract from Greene's achievement, but it is unlikely for an athlete to win SPOTY in a non-Olympic year.
Odds: 200/1

Amir Khan (boxing)
Age: 25
Place of birth: Bolton, Lancashire
Achievements: Having earlier beaten the previously unbeaten Irishman Paul McCloskey in April, Khan unified the IBF and WBA light-welterweight world titles by beating American Zab Judah in May with a KO in the fifth round.
Devil's Advocate: Khan hardly helped his cause within the last two weeks after losing his titles to Lamont Petersen in a split decision even though, controversially, the Bolton boxer was twice deducted two points by referee Joe Cooper for pushing.
Odds: 250/1

Andy Murray (tennis)
Age: 24
Place of birth: Glasgow, Scotland
Achievements: Murray enjoyed perhaps his most consistent year yet, reaching the last four of all of the Grand Slam tournaments, including the semi finals of the French Open for the first time. He made the final of the Australian Open for the second successive year, and finished the season with a flurry of wins in the Far East, winning in Thailand, Japan and Shanghai.
Devil's Advocate: Like Donald (above) in the golf, for all of Murray's consistency in the season as a whole, the Scotsman's lack of a Grand Slam title remains a problem. Murray also had to pull out of the end-of-season ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena in London.
Odds: 250/1


OTHER SPOTY PRIZES
England's cricket team should make it a hat-trick in the Team of the Year award, having won as recently as 2005 and 2009, after retaining the Ashes abroad with three innings victories then becoming the best team in the world.

Following on from that, Andy Flower has a good chance of being named Coach of the Year with his main rival, Graham Henry, discounted on the basis that the award relates to British sport.

It would be a shame then if Graham Henry could not represent New Zealand's Rugby World Cup win by taking the Overseas SPOTY Award, and it is unfortunate that fly half Dan Carter was injured for so much of the tournament, otherwise he would have undoubtedly been a very strong candidate. This is a very competitive year for the Overseas Award with Novak Djokovic's year in tennis and Sebastian Vettel's dominance of F1 ripe also for selection.

Finally, of the main awards, the Young SPOTY Award is between:
- Seventeen-year-old cyclist Lucy Garner who became the junior road race world champion in Copenhagen in 2011, making her Britain's first medallist in the event since Nicole Cooke, who claimed victory in 2000 and 2001. What chance a cycling double tonight?
- Seventeen-year-old Paralympic swimmer Ellie Simmonds who won four medals in individual events at the IPC European Swimming Championships in Berlin - two gold, a silver and a bronze. Simmonds previously won the award in 2008.
- And golfer Lauren Taylor, also 17. Lauren won the 2011 Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship at Royal Portrush and became the youngest ever winner, breaking a record that had stood for 112 years. Perhaps she will make up for Clarke, McIlroy and Donald if they fall short.

There will be three other awards given at the ceremony at the BBC in Salford - the Helen Rollason Award, for someone who has shown "outstanding achievement in the face of adversity"; the Unsung Hero Award, for someone who "has given their time and talents for free to enable others to participate in sport"; and the Lifetime Achievement Award which has been won this year by Sir Steve Redgrave, Britain's greatest ever Olympian.

McCoy earns his stripes in my SPOTY picks

SPOTY winners
SPOTY: Tony McCoy
Second: Phil Taylor Third: Jessica Ennis
Overseas: Rafael Nadal
Coach: Colin Montgomerie
Team: Europe Ryder Cup players
Young: Tom Daley
Lifetime Achievement: David Beckham
Helen Rollason Award: Sir Frank Williams
Unsung Hero: Lance Haggith

My Sports Personality of the Year picks
SPOTY: Tony McCoy
Overseas SPOTY: Rafael Nadal
Coach SPOTY: Andy Flower
Team SPOTY: Europe Ryder Cup players
Young SPOTY: Conor Coady (footballer)
Lifetime Achievement: David Beckham (pre-selected by BBC)
*Other awards include the Helen Rollason award, given for outstanding achievement in the face of adversity, and the Unsung Hero award.

SPOTY main award
TONY MCCOY still heads the betting for tonight's prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year award - and rightly so after his Grand National win on Don't Push It in April.

McCoy memorably won the world's greatest steeplechase at the 15th attempt proving persistence pays off.

"If you get enough goes at something and you keep going, once you're in there you've always got a chance," McCoy said once he had calmed down.

For his victory led to a wonderful but unusual outpouring of joy from a jockey who has been head and shoulders above his contemporaries for years.

The Northern Irishman has been Champion Jockey in every season since 1995-6 but the famous Aintree race had somehow eluded him and it was starting to look as if he might never win it.

This year, another chance looked set to pass by McCoy with Black Apalachi ahead and Don't Push it back in the field.

But a strong finish overhauled Black Apalachi's advantage and gave the 36-year-old the finest of his 3,000+ wins.

Of course, McCoy faces tough competition for the award which will be presented at the Birmingham NEC in front of 13,000 people.

In an excellent year for Northern Irish sport, perhaps McCoy's biggest competition comes from his compatriot Graeme McDowell.

McDowell hit the winning putt at Celtic Manor as Europe regained the Ryder Cup by the slimmest of margins in a fascinating finale in Newport.

But applying the coup de grace to Europe's victory was far from McDowell's only achievement in 2010.

The Portrush man also won his first major, the 2010 US Open at Pebble Beach by one shot from Frenchman Gregory Havret.

Big names such as Ernie Els, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were all just a couple of shots behind throughout the final round.

But McDowell held them all off to add to complete a great year in which he also won the Welsh Open, again at Celtic Manor, and the Andalucia Masters.

The main problem for McDowell is that the golf vote will be split between himself and Lee Westwood whose brilliant consistency landed him the coveted world number one spot.

Westwood also played a major part in Europe's Ryder Cup win, usually going out first and setting the tone by taking 2.5 points from his four matches.

Even in his singles' match which he lost, Westwood seemed to give the Europe middle-order some momentum by leading until a late collapse.

Unfortunately, nearly but not quite enough seems to be the way for the Worksop man who has agonisingly finished third and second in his last two Open Championships, meaning he is still without a major.

But the feeling is that Westwood's time will come soon. After all, you do not become world number one for nothing.

World number one is where Phil Taylor has been for years in darts. The Power's 7-3 victory over Simon Whitlock with an average of 104.38, no less, was his 15th world championship.

Such a record has often provoked a clamour for Taylor to be bestowed with the SPOTY honour but it seems unlikely that the Stoke man has the fanbase to pull this one off.

Taylor may attract votes as some sort of working-class hero but, given that Zara Phillips won this award in 2006, the programme's demographic seems more far-reaching than that.

That won't bother Taylor too much. After all, he is currently playing at the Alexandra Palace, looking for a 16th world championship at the age of 50.

If Taylor is coming towards the end of his career, the next candidate - Tom Daley - has only just begun.

Diver Daley, at 16, had already become a world champion in 2009 and he added double Commonwealth gold this year against a tough field.

Plymouth-born Daley has a good record in this competition too, having won Young SPOTY in 2007 and 2009.

He was also named in the top ten of the main award last year for his world championship win.

Daley has again been nominated in both awards this year and yet, given his competition, he may be unlucky enough not to win either.

However, what seems certain is that he will be the poster boy for British hopes in the London 2012 Olympics.

Meanwhile, the pin-up girl is likely to be Jessica Ennis who continued her golden streak in the heptathlon this year, setting a personal best of 6,823 points at the European Championships.

Sheffield-born Ennis, who finished third in last year's SPOTY, also won the World Indoor Championships with a competition-record points total to add to her World Championship win in Berlin in 2009.

Of course, the big prize for 24-year-old Ennis remains the Olympics and Denise Lewis' British points record of 6,831 which she just fell short of this year.

Among the other candidates, Amy Williams is already an Olympic champion having brought home Great Britain's only medal from the Winter Games in Vancouver.

Skeleton athlete Williams became the first individual British gold medalist in 30 years since Robin Cousins won gold in figure skating in 1980 when she got down the Whistler track in the best aggregate time over four runs.

She also set the track record of 53.68 in her third run to set up her victory which came by 56 seconds over German pair Kerstin Szymkowiak and Anja Huber.

Manxman Mark Cavendish is another speed merchant to make the final cut after he won another five stages in the 2010 Tour de France to take his career total to an amazing 15 in three years.

The 25-year-old also backed up his stage wins with a green jersey in another of the classic tours, La Vuelta a Espana for the most overall points.

Cavendish looks as if he could dominate sprinting in cycling for years - he certainly seems to have the desire to win over and over again.

Another man with great self-belief is Notts and England spinner Graeme Swann, a late bloomer if ever there was one.

Since his Test debut in December 2008 at the age of 29, Swann has become a major pillar of this largely successful England team.

Under the captaincy of Andrew Strauss, England won their first major ICC World Cup in the Twenty20 version of the sport this year.

The team also enjoyed Test series wins over Bangladesh and Pakistan, and they made a fine start to their Ashes defence with victory in Adelaide before being pegged back in Perth.

Swann has added a new dimension to England's bowling attack, providing the team with a genuine world class spinner.

His 124 Test wickets at an average of 27.62 speaks volumes, as does his ability to pick up five-wicket hauls - no fewer than 10 in just 27 matches.

The final candidate is WBA world heavyweight champion David Haye who defended his belt successfully against John Ruiz and Audley Harrison this year.

Unfortunately, the spectacle of the Haye-Harrison fight left much to be desired and Haye was barely tested, winning in three rounds.

Haye's big year is 2011 in which he plans to fight both of the Klitchko brothers - only by beating them will he cement his place on the pantheon of great British boxing heavyweights.

Overseas SPOTY
IN American Pie, Don McLean wrote: "And while the King was looking down, the Jester stole his thorny crown..." and this year saw the long-awaited changing of the guard in tennis.

Rafael Nadal won three of the four majors in 2010 to complete his own career Grand Slam.

While Roger Federer crashed out of Wimbledon at the quarter final stage, Nadal powered to a 6-3 7-5 6-4 - having won his fifth French Open in six years a month earlier.

And at the US open, Federer again went out before the final, losing Novak Djokovic in the semis, opening the door for Nadal.

The Spaniard won 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-2 against the Serb to become the first player ever to win majors on clay, grass and hardcourt in a single season.

Federer is now 29 while Mallorca-born Nadal is just 24 - and, with him having overcome his knee trouble, it is frightening to think how much more he might win.

Nevertheless, Nadal is likely to face tough competition tonight from New Zealand fly-half Daniel Carter and Sri Lankan spin king Mutiah Muralitharan.

All Black Carter won the Tri Nations for the sixth time and he also helped NZ complete a clean sweep in the Autumn internationals.

While in Britain, Carter hit a penalty against Wales to overhaul Jonny Wilkinson and become the leading Test point scorer with 1,188 points.

That record includes 29 tries, 208 conversion, 207 penalties and two drop goals at an average of 15 point a game, highest average for players with more than 500 Test points.

Meanwhile, Murali was also a record breaker before his retirement this year, becoming the first bowler to take 800 Test wickets, all at an average of 22.72.

Better still, he achieved his feat in typical fairytale style with his final delivery in Test cricket, dismissing Pragjan Ojha of India to complete a 10-wicket win.

Murali's career record was indeed second to none - only Shane Warne, on 708 wickets, came anywhere near to matching this spinning genius.

Coach SPOTY
UNLIKE the 2005 Ashes victory which came at the end of a long unbeaten run, the 2009 win has seemed to breed further success for the England cricketers and their coach Andy Flower.

England are unbeaten in all of their Test series since the fifth Test win at the Oval regained the Ashes, drawing in South Africa, beating Bangladesh twice and Pakistan.

In limited overs cricket, England have overseen a big upturn in form, with five successive series wins over South Africa, Bangladesh twice, Pakistan and Australia. The team also tasted success in the Twenty20 World Cup.

Much credit for this must go to the coach who seems to have instilled a great spirit in the camp and a professionalism which has seen the team's fielding improve massively.

Team SPOTY
THE two golfers, McDowell and Westwood, may cancel each other out in the main award but Europe's Ryder Cup players should be a shoo-in for the Team of the Year.

Trailing 6-4 after the first two sessions of fourballs and foursomes, Europe produced a scintillating run of form to win the third session by 5.5 to 0.5.

The trail of victories began on Saturday evening and finished on Sunday afternoon as the competition was forced into a Monday finish for the first time ever in rainy Wales.

Luke Donald, Ian Poulter and Miguel Angel Jiminez all won their Singles matches while Rory McIlroy and Eduaordo Molinari earned halves.

But, at 13.5-13.5, it was all down to McDowell to keep his cool. That he did, winning on the 17th green after his opponent Hunter Mahan conceded a five-foot putt.

The victory sparked celebrations reminiscent of a football pitch invasion as fans flooded onto the green in a scene which will go down in Ryder Cup history.

Europe had won its sixth Ryder Cup out of the last eight - with four wins in the last five - but only by the slimmest of margins. This was a classic.

Young SPOTY
IN a year in which the England senior team failed badly at the World Cup in South Africa, English football actually won its first major international trophy for 17 years.

England beat Spain 2-1 in the final of the Under-17 European Championships in Liechtenstein and Liverpool's Conor Coady was vital to the success.

Described as a Steven Gerrard-type box-to-box midfielder - with the crew-cut hairstyle to match - Coady was instrumental as skipper in bringing back the trophy in May.

Let us hope in years to come, he will do better than Gerrard on the senior international stage as well.

Lifetime Achievement award
THE BBC has made a shocking decision which smacks of pandering to the masses by giving the Lifetime Achievement award to David Beckham.

To his credit, Beckham won everything there was to win in the club game, and he also hauled the national team out of sticky situations on several occasions.

Off the pitch, Beckham deserves credit for his charitable work, raising awareness for UNICEF and the Unite against Aids campaign.

He has also featured in memorable sketches for Comic Relief and played a big part in helping Great Britain win the bid for the London 2012 Olympics.

But, aged 35, his name sits uncomfortably at the moment alongside other Manchester United greats who have picked up this award - Sir Alex Ferguson, George Best and Sir Bobby Charlton.

The reason being that I would imagine Beckham has much more yet to give in his post-playing career.

When Alexander the Great was 33, he broke down and cried as there were no more lands to conquer. David Beckham is not Alexander the Great.

SPOTY winners and predos

ACTUAL WINNERS
Sports Personality of the Year: Ryan Giggs
Runners up: Jenson Button (second), Jessica Ennis (third)

Young Sports Personality of the Year: Tom Daley
Runners up: Heather Watson, Jodie Williams

Overseas Sports Personality of the Year: Usain Bolt
Runner up: Roger Federer

Team of the Year: England men's cricket team
Coach of the Year: Fabio Capello, England football coach
Lifetime Achievement Award: Seve Ballesteros
Unsung Hero Award: Doreen Adcock, Milton Keynes swimming tutor
Helen Rollason Award: Major Phil Packer
Special Award: Eddie Izzard


MY SPOTY PICKS
Sports Personality of the Year: Jenson Button
Runners up: Jessica Ennis, Andrew Strauss

JENSON BUTTON should emulate new McLaren team mate Lewis Hamilton by winning Sports Personality of the Year after he made it two British Formula One world champions in successive years.

Button's blistering start to the season saw him win six of the first seven races for Brawn GP who were formed from the ashes of the defunct Honda team just weeks before the start of the season.

Indeed, it is these circumstances, with Button going from being unsure of having an F1 seat to leading from start to finish, which made his world crown all the more remarkable.

The Sports Personality of the Year award is almost always a source of great debate - and this year's choice was no different.

Button faces stiff competition from heptathlete Jessica Ennis and triple jumper Phillips Idowu after Team GB's successful World Championships in Berlin.

Like Button, Ennis led from start to finish. She set a personal best score of 6,731 points to win gold and compensate somewhat for the cruel blow when she missed the Beijing Olympics through injury.

Idowu achieved what he had threatened to do for some time and a personal best of 17.73m ensured he went one better than his Olympic silver medal in Beijing.

Three other world champions are on the shortlist - gymnast Beth Tweddle, heavyweight boxer David Haye and 15-year-old diver Tom Daley.

Tweddle, who was third in the 2006 edition of SPOTY, overcame the disappointment of failing in her signature event, the bars, to win gold for a fantastic floor routine at London's O2 Arena.

Haye gave away nearly one foot in height and seven stone in weight but his points victory over Nikolay Valuev in Nuremburg made him Britain's first heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis retired in 2003.

There is more on Tom Daley's achievements below.

England cricket captain Andrew Strauss led from the front, finishing the highest run scorer in the Ashes series as the hosts beat Australia 2-1 for the second time in four years.

Meanwhile, Mark Cavendish also had a summer that he is unlikely to forget after his six stage wins in the gruelling Tour de France, including the finale on the Champs-Elysses.

The remaining two candidates are tennis player Andy Murray, who reached a career-high world ranking as number two, and PFA Player of the Year Ryan Giggs, who won a record 11th Premier League title with Manchester United.

But, for me, it is Button who should take the prestigious BBC prize.

Not just for his brilliant start after months of uncertainty but also for the way he kept his cool as his lead was cut in the second part of the season.

His attacking performance in the penultimate Grand Prix in Brazil, when he went from 14th on the grid to finish fifth, was a champagne moment to cap a thrilling season.


Young Sports Personality of the Year: Tom Daley
Runners up: Heather Watson, Jodie Williams

THE CAREER of teenage diver Tom Daley hit incredible heights this year when he became Britain's youngest ever world champion in Rome.

The 15-year-old from Plymouth was the talk of the championships after he produced a brilliant final dive to take gold in the 10m platform final.

Daley, who won Young SPOTY in 2007, has made the shortlist for this and the main award in 2009.

But, while the main award may be beyond him, he fully deserves a second Young SPOTY prize in three years for his even greater feats in the last twelve months.

Not that Daley has been the only teenager turning in world class performances this year.

17-year-old Heather Watson won the US Open girls tournament with a dominant straight-sets win over Russian Yana Buchina.

Watson's win indicates further that the future of British tennis may not be as bleak as some fear after Laura Robson's Wimbledon girls crown in 2008.

Meanwhile, Jodie Williams, 16, became the first girl to win both the 100m and 200m titles at the IAAF World Championships.

Williams' 100m time of 11.39 seconds was the fastest time by a British female at that point in 2009 and she already represents a real medal hope for the London 2012 Olympics.


Overseas Sports Personality of the Year: Usain Bolt
JAMAICAN sprint king Usain Bolt may have won Overseas SPOTY in 2008 but, in typical Bolt style, he was even better in 2009.

When Bolt eased his way to breaking the 100m world record in the 2008 Beijing Olympics final, it was clear that his time of 9.69 seconds could be reduced considerably further.

Bolt waited for the big occasion to come around again before smashing that time and setting 9.58 seconds as the new record at the World Championships in Berlin.

The Jamaican also broke the world record in the 200m for the second year running.

After narrowly beating Michael Johnson's 1996 time of 19.32 by two-hundredths of a second in the Olympics, Bolt reduced the record to 19.19 in Berlin.

Quite simply, there is no man who can live with his pace on this planet.


Coach of the Year: Ross Brawn
ROSS BRAWN is a team director rather than a coach but he merits some recognition for his role in Button's F1 world crown and his glittering career generally.

Extremely clever but always self-deprecating, Brawn was the quiet tactical genius behind seven-time champion Michael Schumacher as technical director at Benetton and Ferrari.

After Honda's demise, Brawn took it upon himself to rebuild the team from scratch, reluctantly putting his own name on it.

But for a natural born winner, just getting the car on the track was never going to be enough and his team built a car with a rear diffuser which blew the field away and led Button to glory.


Team of the Year: Ireland national rugby union
IRELAND's rugby team overcame years of misery and painful near misses to land the Six Nations title, their first win in the competition since 1985.

Better still, they beat all-comers to achieve their first Grand Slam success for 61 years - and they did so in the most dramatic style.

The Irish began with a 30-21 win over France at Croke Park before a routine 38-9 beating of Italy in Rome on the following week.

In the third match, Ireland held on to win 14-13 at Croke Park against England after a late Delon Armitage try set up a grand-stand finish.

And in the fourth match, Ireland completed a 22-15 win over Scotland at Murrayfield.

The final match was in Cardiff against Wales, the 2008 Grand Slam winners. Ireland were a point behind with two minutes left.

The 15-14 deficit would still be enough to give them the title but it meant they would fail to get the Triple Crown or the Grand Slam.

Then, a drop goal by Ronan O'Gara and a penalty miss by Stephen Jones ensured that the Irish would win the lot.

Better still, Ireland drew with Australia and beat world champions South Africa in the autumn internationals to end 2009 unbeaten.

Other teams to enjoy successful sporting years included both the men and women's England cricket teams.

While the men's Ashes success was widely publicised, the women won both the 20-overs and 50-overs World Cups, and retained the Ashes with a draw in a one-off Test.

In domestic cricket, Durham won a second successive county championship while, in football, Manchester United won an 11th Premier League title.

Then, of course, there is Brawn GP who built a champion Formula One car from scratch despite having just weeks to do it in.

It is a sign of the times, however, that many of those workers were made redundant at the start of the season. The recession resulted in widespread cost-cutting in F1.


Lifetime Achievement Award: Seve Ballesteros
SPANISH golfer Seve Ballesteros won five major titles in his playing career - three Open Championships and two Masters titles.

Ballesteros announced himself on the world stage when finishing second in the Open as a 19-year-old in 1976.

He won the Open three years later before two further victories in 1984 and 1988. His two US Masters successes were in 1980 and 1983.

His performance as a team player was also undeniable and he helped Europe to Ryder Cup wins in 1985, 1987, 1989 and 1995 as a player, and 1997 as a non-playing captain.

More recently, last autumn, the golf world was saddened to hear Ballesteros was gravely ill with a cancerous brain tumour.

Ballesteros had the tumour removed and responded well to chemotherapy. He set up the Seve Ballesteros Foundation to help those fighting cancer with money used to research the causes of brain tumours.


Sports Personality of the Year will be shown on BBC One at 1900 GMT.
Note: Two further awards, the Unsung Hero and Helen Rollason Awards, will also be announced during the show.