Chris Hoy was crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year tonight in a result that surprised many who had expected Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington or formula one champion Lewis Hamilton to win. In the end they were third and second respectively.
Outside the Liverpool Echo Arena, a characterless barn on the banks of the Mersey, it was a cold, grey December evening. But inside 9,000 spectators who had become overnight experts on the keirin and the Yngling and a glittering parade of medal winners gathered to relive memories of a golden summer.
Hoy, 32, is the first cyclist to win the award since Tommy Simpson in 1965. "To win this in this year in particular, it's hard to explain what it means because I think British sport has enjoyed one of its best years in my lifetime," he said. "It's incredible. This really is the culmination of 12 years of hard work for me."
Hoy led the British gold rush in the Laoshan velodrome in the summer with wins in the team sprint, along with Jamie Staff and Jason Kenny, the keirin and the individual sprint.
The BBC Sports Personality of the Year award never fails to provoke debate, but in a year that boasted Britain's best Olympics since 1908 and the youngest ever formula one champion in Lewis Hamilton all talk focused on the impossibility of choosing a winner rather than the paucity of the shortlist. In those categories decided before last night's vote for the overall winner, Olympians dominated. In any other year, a British team winning the Champions League might have expected to pick up the team of the year prize.
But in a reflection of the buzz outside the arena, it was not Manchester United's well remunerated stars who were named team of the year but the British Olympic cycling team.
The dominance of the team that took home 14 medals from Beijing, including eight golds, was also reflected in nominations for four of their number for the main prize.
David Brailsford, the British cycling director of performance whose singleminded strategy drove the team to new heights at the Olympics and Paralympics, beat Sir Alex Ferguson and others to the coach of the year award.
Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter, won the overseas sports personality of the year trophy, just beating Michael Phelps, winner of an unprecedented eight gold medals in Beijing.
No comments:
Post a Comment