Thursday 22 December 2011

Well the important one out of three ain't bad

The evening that Gary Lineker announced the 10 nominees I stuck my neck out and made my predictions.



  • 3 Rory McIlroy





  • 2 Alastair Cook





  • 1 Mark Cavendish




  • So I may have got the runners up wrong but at least I was right about the British public for a change.

    As for what I said about the runners up. I ruled out Darren Clarke making the top three as he wasn't the best golfer on the list, but like in 2006 he was the runner up on a purely emotional vote. I knew that Mo Farah would score highest of the two athletes, but I was expecting the hero of the Ashes to be battling with Cav for the top spot. From the cheers in the studio at the start of the evening I thought that was definitely the case.

    Thankfully it wasn't and Cav won. He started as he always starts a winning interview appearing to be shy. But soon got stuck in thanking the teams that help make him great who look after him and get him towards the line where he then sprints for the line.

    Surprisingly considering the success of British cycling in recent years the Manx Missile is only the third British cyclist to win BBC's Sports Personality of the Year following our other road race world Champion Tommy Simpson in 1965 and Sir Chris Hoy in 2008.

    However, Cav did point out that the success of British cycling is leading to more people taking to two wheels more often:

    "Now I see so many people out riding bikes, commuting to work or doing it as a hobby, they can see what it's like to ride."
    Sadly it comes in the year that the first cyclist to be killed on the roads of London had in the past been part of the Sports Personality of the Year shows. Gary Mason the boxer was a name I think was missing from the sports people who had lost their lives this year in the tribute just before the final award.

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