SPOTY - BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2011

The BBC Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY) is an odd award. It used to be an open vote by the public but then it was decided to have a shortlist decided on by experts to avoid campaigns for obscure sportsmen such as an angler one year.


This year's shortlist is all male and there has been some fuss that no women have been included. Of the 10 on the list, 3 are golfers, Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke who both won majors and Luke Donald lead the American Tour moneylist and is ranked No. 1 in the world. There are 2 cricketers from the Ashes series, Andrew Strauss the captain amd Alastair Cook the top run scorer, with England ranked the top country in Test matches. World champion athletes Dai Greene and Mo Farah, World Champion boxer Amir Khan and World Champion cyclist Mark Cavendish are included on the list. Andy Murray appears to be the odd one out on the list as he has not won a Grand Slam tournament, but he had a good year winning several tournaments and his best overall performance in the 4 Grand Slame events reaching 4 semifinals and 1 final. With the standard of Men's tennis at the moment that is a great performance and 4th in the World rankings in such a major global sport is equivalent to World Champions in other sports.


Thus the 10 chosen are all great sportsmen. It is noticeable that there are no footballers despite the fact that footbal  is considered the biggest professional sport in this country. Similarly there are  no rugby players, even though Wales had a good Rugby Union World Cup. There are even no drivers from motor racing, normally providing a leading contender to the award.


As regards the women, there were a few who were unlucky not to be included. Sarah Stevenson won the  World Taekwondo Championships at her weight last May. It is not a very prominent sport in this country and some may have forgotten about her win by now. In swimming there was some good performances with  Keri-Anne Payne winning the 10K open-water event and Rebecca Adlington again winning a gold at the World Championship. However there did not seem to be an overall outstanding performance by a sportswoman so although some women received votes none of them made the shortlist. Adlington came nearest but she had done better in previous years and like others she is preparing for the Olympics next year, so may not have been at her best this year.


Also women's sport is not as prominently covered as men's, For instance in football and cricket the women's teams had a good year with little coverage in the media. The greater interest in the male sporting arenas is reflected in awards such as this.


Overall it is a strong shortlist with more World Champions then in previous years and reflects a very good year for British golfers and cricketers. No doubt it will be a very different list next year after the Olympics with sports such as yachting and rowing being more prominent. No doubt there will be at least one female representative on the list as the London games will provide a chance for women to do well in a prominent arena. There may even be disabled athletes from the Paralympics. Perhaps even a footballer after the Euro 2012 finals.


It has though been a strong year for Britsih sport and perhaps extending the shortlist to 12 would have made the list more representative. Personally my choice to win the award this year would be Mark Cavendish who has had such a great year and has established himself as one of the top sprinters in road racing of all time.


More info:
BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2011
Votes cast for SPOTY


Update 22 December: The cyclist Mark Cavendish won the vote on the night with 169,152 votes, 49.47% of the total votes cast for the 10 candidates. The next highest was Darren Clarke with 42,188 votes (12.34%).