| 2011 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | 22 December 2011 | |||
| Location | dock10 studios,Salford | |||
| Country | United Kingdom | |||
| Presented by | British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) | |||
| Hosted by | Sue Barker Gary Lineker Jake Humphrey | |||
| Winner | Mark Cavendish | |||
| Website | BBC Sports Personality | |||
| Television/radio coverage | ||||
| Network | ||||
| Runtime | 120 minutes | |||
| ||||
The2011 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award took place on 22 December 2011 at thedock10 studios inSalford.[1] It was the 58th presentation of theBBC Sports Personality of the Year Award.[1] Awarded annually by theBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the main titular award honours an individual'sBritish sporting achievement over the past year, with the winner selected by public vote from a ten-person shortlist. Other awards presented include team, coach, and young personality of the year.
The event, broadcast live onBBC One, was hosted bySue Barker,Gary Lineker andJake Humphrey.[1]
CyclistMark Cavendish won themain award, with golferDarren Clarke the runner-up and long-distance runnerMo Farah in third place.[2]
The shortlist of ten sportspeople, which was drawn up by "a range of sports experts fromnewspapers and magazines across the UK",[3] was announced on 29 November 2011.[4] The shortlist was widely criticised for its lack of any female competitors. On 14 December, theBritish Olympic Association said that they were considering a boycott of the award ceremony in protest. The BOA chief executive, Andy Hunt, said that he would have included swimmersKeri-Anne Payne andRebecca Adlington, rowerKatherine Grainger, and England women's cricket captain,Charlotte Edwards, in his top 10.[5] The BBC said that it would review the nomination procedure for the 2012 awards.[5]
The award ceremony was held on Thursday 22 December at thedock10 inSalford, and was broadcast live onBBC One.
The ten nominees saw three nominees from the world ofgolf, two each from the worlds ofathletics, andcricket, and one each fromboxing,cycling, andtennis.
Mark Cavendish won the award with 49.47% of the vote.Darren Clarke was the runner-up with 12.34%, andMo Farah took third place with 8.71% of the vote. Cavendish was the third cyclist to win the award afterTom Simpson in 1965, andSir Chris Hoy in 2008. Additionally, Cavendish became the first winner from theIsle of Man. Clarke had been runner-up in 2006, a feat he managed to repeated this time around. The last golfer to win the award wasSir Nick Faldo in 1989. Farah's fellow athleteJessica Ennis finished third in the previous two competitions, whilstDame Kelly Holmes was the lasttrack and field athlete to win the award.
Sir Bobby Charlton andBaroness Grey-Thompson presented the awards.
| Nominee | Sport | 2011 achievement | BBC Profile | Votes (percentage)[2] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mark Cavendish | Cycling | Britain's first winner of thepoints classification in the Tour de France; also won theworld road race, the first British male champion to do so for 46 years. | [1] | 169,152 (49.47%) |
| Darren Clarke | Golf | Won the2011 Open Championship at the age of 42, becoming the oldest winner of the event sinceRoberto De Vicenzo in1967. | [2] | 42,188 (12.34%) |
| Mo Farah | Athletics | Won a gold medal in the 5,000m and a silver medal in the 10,000m at theWorld Championships. | [3] | 29,780 (8.71%) |
| Luke Donald | Golf | Won theBMW PGA Championship at Wentworth and became the world's number one golfer. | [4] | 23,854 (6.98%) |
| Andy Murray | Tennis | Won five titles and reached third place in the world rankings. | [5] | 18,754 (5.48%) |
| Andrew Strauss | Cricket | Led England to victory inthe Ashes on the way to becoming the number one Test team in the world. | [6] | 17,994 (5.26%) |
| Alastair Cook | Cricket | Won theAshes in Australia, as the highest run scorer and whitewashedIndia, 4–0, to become thenumber one test nation. | [7] | 13,038 (3.81%) |
| Rory McIlroy | Golf | Became the youngestU.S. Open champion since 1923 | [8] | 11,915 (3.48%) |
| Dai Greene | Athletics | Won a gold medal in the 400m hurdles at theWorld Championships. | [9] | 9,022 (2.64%) |
| Amir Khan | Boxing | DefeatedZab Judah in thelight-welterweight unification fight in Las Vegas. | [10] | 6,262 (1.83%) |
In addition to the main award as "Sports Personality of the Year", several other awards were also announced:[2]