Keely Hodgkinson is voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
TV viewers have voted for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year for 70 years. The award is shown live on BBC One midweek evenings from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. When it started in 1954, the TV landscape was somewhat different. BBC1 was the only channel, and many people did not have a television—my own parents first got television in 1958. You watched it live or didn’t watch it at all—video recorders, let alone viewing on demand, were unheard of.
The winner is chosen by the public’s votes. In my youth, voting was in advance by letter. In the modern world, you vote via a QR code or phone during the live program. A shortlist of six candidates is chosen by a BBC panel. It is an award that sportspeople take seriously. This year, four of the six candidates were present for the live ceremony, with the England cricketer, who took third place, participating via a live TV link from New Zealand, where he was playing.
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photos: BBC / Kerry Spicer K J T
Sport means sport, with the last 6 winners representing football/soccer, tennis, Formula One, cricket, and cycling. Three winners from skating and even a member of the royal family, Princess Anne, competed globally in equestrian eventing. Looking at the list of past winners, I was shocked to note that track and field has been the dominant sport. 18 winners have been from the sport – next best Formula 1 with eight. In terms of podium placings, our sport has had 53. What’s the next best football? It was 24. That said, Hodgkinson is only the second from our sport to win in the past 20 years. In attempting to interpret the results, one has to remember that this is a live vote by those who are watching the TV coverage, whereas in the past, it was a postal vote – how that affects things, I have no idea.
It is undoubtedly excellent publicity for track and field athletics. Keely is an engaging young woman, which certainly helps the sport’s perception. In addition to the leading award, there are several author awards, and it was good to see our sport pick up two.
Coach of the Year
Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows
World Sport Star
Armand Duplantis
Of course, it’s only a TV program and a popular vote, but it certainly does our sport no harm to see Keely Hodgkinson win, leaving Real Madrid and England football star Jude Bellingham trailing in her wake. The list of previous winners below is a potted history of British athletics successes.
Previous Athletics Winners
1954 – Christopher Chataway
1955 – Gordon Pirie
1963 – Dorothy Hyman
1964 – Mary Rand
1968 – David Hemery
1972 – Mary Peters
1974 – Brendan Foster
1978 – Steve Ovett
1979 – Seb Coe
1982- Daley Thompson
1983 – Steve Cram
1987 – Fatima Whitbread
1991 – Liz McColgan
1993 – Linford Christie
1995 – Jonathan Edwards
2002 – Paula Radcliffe
2004 – Kelly Holmes
2017 – Mo Farah