BBC Sports Personality Of The Year 2012

December 17, 2024

In a wonderful evening that celebrated an incredible year of sport, cyclist Bradley Wiggins was awarded the BBC Sports Personality of the year award whilst Jessica Ennis was runner-up with Andy Murray coming in third.

The 2012 BBC Sports Personality of the year Awards marked a clear turning point for women’s sport in the UK, with a new and more balanced shortlist and fair coverage of the achievements of our female sportswomen. After last years PR disaster when no women were included on the shortlist, it was clear that the BBC had set out to make amends and in general they succeeded. An Olympic year, however, always provides a platform to celebrate a wider variety of sports so the true test of a change in attitudes will be next year’s awards.

There was extensive coverage of much of this summers action, with wonderful sections dedicated to all the contenders and whilst there will be a few who will feel justifiably disappointed not to have had their moment - arguably the women’s hockey team - the BBC had a difficult task in giving fair airtime to what has been the most incredible year for British sport.

The new format show included a huge audience of 16,000 at London’s ExCeL Arena, all there to relive the glories of the Paralympics and Olympic summer at one of the games venues and it was these events that dominated. Team Of The Year award was given to Team GB/Paralympics GB, despite the judging criteria having to be overturned by the panel in order to allow this to happen. Coach Of The Year went to Dave Brailsford, which few would dispute was well deserved, and Junior Personality was awarded to Paralympic swimmer Josef Craig.

Sebastian Coe was also honored for his contribution to British sport, recognised not just for one of the greatest careers in British athletics but also, for his triumph in delivering the greatest Olympics and Paralympics. David Beckham introduced him as the “man who won the Olympics and ran the Olympics”.

The Overseas Personality of the Year was won for a third time by Usain Bolt after his unprecedented successful defence of all three of his Olympic sprint crowns – the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay.

There were poignant moments too which recognised and celebrated sport in a wider context. The BBC Helen Rollason Award was given to 7/7 bombings survivor Martine Wright, who nearly died the day after London was awarded the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, but fought back to compete in the Paralympics.

Sue and Jim Houghton were named as winners of the BBC Sport 2012 Unsung Hero Award. The husband and wife team spent 25 years helping to transform a derelict Leicestershire sports ground into a popular community facility. And of course we could not have an evening like this without a mention of the Games Makers who formed 500 members of the audience and were thanked by many of the award winners.

But the evening belonged to Wiggins who took over thirty percent of the vote and entertained the crowd with his usual style of cheeky banter and modest view of his own achievements. A well deserved winner from a vastly improved shortlist.

Danielle Sellwood, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine

The voting statistics:

1. Bradley Wiggins 492,064 (30.25%)

2. Jessica Ennis 372,765 (22.92%)

3. Andy Murray 230,444 (14.17%)

4. Mo Farah 131,327 (8.07%)

5. David Weir 114,633 (7.05%)

6. Ellie Simmonds 102,894 (6.33%)

7. Sir Chris Hoy 42,961 (2.64%)

8. Nicola Adams 35,560 (2.19%)

9. Ben Ainslie 35,373 (2.17%)

10. Rory McIlroy 29,729 (1.83%)

11. Katherine Grainger 28,626 (1.76%)

12. Sarah Storey 10,342 (0.64%)

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BBC Sports Personality Of The Year 2012

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