2009 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award

2009 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award
Date13 December 2009
LocationSheffield Arena, Sheffield
CountryUnited Kingdom
Presented byBBC
Hosted by
WinnerRyan Giggs
WebsiteBBC Sports Personality
Television/radio coverage
NetworkBBC One
Runtime125 minutes
← 2008 · BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award · 2010 →

The 2009 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, held on 13 December, was the 56th presentation of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards. It was presented by Sue Barker, Jake Humphrey, and Gary Lineker on BBC One. Awarded annually by the BBC, the main titular award honours an individual's British sporting achievement over the past year. The winner is selected by public vote from a 10-person shortlist. Other awards presented include team, coach, and young personality of the year.

Footballer Ryan Giggs took home the main award, with racing driver Jenson Button second and heptathlete Jessica Ennis third.

Winner and nominees

The BBC Sports Personality of the Year is an annual sport award ceremony and the 2009 edition was its 56th staging. It occurred on the evening of 13 December, at the Sheffield Arena, Sheffield.[1][2] For 2009, the BBC moved the awards from the Echo Arena, Liverpool to Sheffield to try to attract more spectators.[3] It was the first time that the programme was held in Yorkshire,[4] which was broadcast live in the United Kingdom on BBC One, the BBC Sport website and BBC Radio 5 Live.[1] Sue Barker, Jake Humphrey and Gary Lineker presented the ceremony on the main stage,[5] whilst Clare Balding, Matt Dawson, John Inverdale and Stephen Parry served as the backstage radio broadcasters.[6]

Nominations for the award were conducted by a panel of 26 sport experts representing magazines and select national and regional newspapers.[7] They were asked to choose ten nominees not in preference but in alphabetical order. Had there have been a tie after the nominating process, the production team would have asked six members of a panel of former winners for their first three preferences in order. There would be three points for first, two for second and one for third. The tied nominee with the highest number of points would subsequently advance to the final ten; had there been a second tie, another vote would be conducted to move the tied participant with the highest number of first places to the shortlist.[8]

The ten nominees were announced on the BBC One programme The One Show on the evening of 30 November.[8] The list was composed of two athletes from the sport of athletics, and one each from the sports of boxing, cricket, cycling, diving, football, Formula One, gymnastics and tennis.[7] Jenson Button, the 2009 Formula One World Champion,[9] was the bookmakers' initial favourite to win the accolade, followed heptathlete world champion Jessica Ennis and cricketer Andrew Strauss.[10] In the week prior to the ceremony, the bookmakers moved footballer Ryan Giggs into contention and made him the more than likely winner during the programme.[11]

Giggs was announced as the winner with 29.40 per cent of the public vote. Button finished runner-up with 18.74 per cent of the public vote and Ennis was third with a 15.58 per cent vote share. Giggs was the first footballer to be voted the recipient of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award since David Beckham in 2001 and the fourth in history following Michael Owen in 1998, Paul Gascoigne in 1990 and Bobby Moore in 1966.[2] Giggs was also the third Welsh winner of the award, following 2007 winner Joe Calzaghe and David Broome who won in 1960. Chris Hoy and Andrew Flintoff presented Giggs with the silver television camera and tripod trophy.[12]

Winner and nominees of the 2009 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award[13]
Nominee Sport 2009 achievement[7] Votes[2] %[14]
Ryan Giggs Football The 20-year veteran of Manchester United made his 800th appearance, scored his 150th goal and helped the club reach the Champions League final. 151,842 29.40
Jenson Button Formula One Won the World Drivers' Championship to become the tenth British Formula One World Champion. 96,770 18.74
Jessica Ennis Athletics Won heptathlon gold at the IAAF World Championships in Berlin. 80,469 15.58
Mark Cavendish Cycling Claimed 23 professional victories during the season, including 6 and 3 stages of the Tour de France / Giro d'Italia respectively. 55,960 10.84
Beth Tweddle Gymnastics Won floor gold at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. 38,907 7.53
Tom Daley Diving Became the first British world champion (at 15 years of age) upon winning 10 metre platform gold at the FINA World Championships. 36,929 7.13
Andy Murray Tennis Won six tennis tournaments in 2009, including the Miami Masters and the Montreal Masters to reach No. 2 in the world rankings. 19,936 3.86
Andrew Strauss Cricket Captained the England cricket team to victory over Australia in the 2009 Ashes. 17,237 3.34
David Haye Boxing Defeated Nikolai Valuev in a "David vs. Goliath" match in Nuremberg, Germany to become the sixth WBA Heavyweight Champion in history. 13,916 2.69
Phillips Idowu Athletics Won Britain's second gold medal of the IAAF World Championships in Berlin in the triple jump. 4,507 0.87

Other awards

Helen Rollason Award

The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Helen Rollason Award was presented to an individual "for outstanding achievement in the face of adversity."[8] The winner was chosen by BBC Sport with no public vote and the name of the recipient was revealed on the night of the ceremony.[8] Help for Heroes charity fundraiser Major Phil Packer, who raised money through sporting activities, was named the award's winner. Packer was presented with the accolade by Steve Redgrave.[12]

Winner of the 2009 BBC Sport Personality of the Year Helen Rollason Award
Winner Sport Rationale Ref
Major Phil Packer —[a] for fundraising over £1.2 million for the Help for Heroes charity, despite being paraplegic since sustaining injuries in the Iraq War. [15]

Young Sports Personality

The BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year was presented to the sportsperson under the age of 16 on 1 January 2009 for "outstanding sporting achievements".[16] The panel to decide the nominees and winner was chaired by Humphrey, and included the broadcasters Helen Skelton of Blue Peter, Ore Oduba from Sportsround, two representatives each from the Youth Sport Trust and the Sports Personality of the Year and two previous Young Sports Personality recipients in Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and Kate Haywood. The panel convened on 9 November to determine the first ten nominees from a BBC and Youth Sport Trust compiled list and returned a fortnight later to choose the first three and the recipient with the seven losing nominees informed that they did not make the final shortlist.[8]

Tom Daley, the diver, was named the winner of the award. It was Daley's second win after his first in 2007 and he was the first person to earn the award more than once.[2] He received the accolade from Amir Khan and Ellie Simmonds.[12]

Winner and nominees of the 2009 BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year Award[13]
Nominee Sport 2009 achievement[16]
Tom Daley Diving Became the first British world champion (at 15 years of age) upon winning 10 metre platform gold at the FINA World Championships.
Heather Watson Tennis Won the Junior US Open championship, moving her to No. 3 in the junior world rankings.
Jodie Williams Athletics Became the first girl in history to win the gold medal in both the 100 and 200 metres at the World Youth Championships.

Special Achievement Award

The Special Achievement Award is given out intermittently and was given in 2009 to the comedian and actor Eddie Izzard for their epic marathon feats for Sport Relief.[17] He ran forty-three marathons in fifty-one days and raised over £200,000 for charity. David Walliams had been given the same award for similar efforts three years earlier.

Unsung Hero Award

The BBC Sports Unsung Hero Award recognised "someone who is dedicating their life to promoting sport in their community, taking no reward from it other than the pleasure of helping others to take part and enjoy their sport."[8] UK, Channel Islands and Isle of Man residents aged 16 or over but no previous winners, BBC employees and anybody working with the award or their close relatives was eligible to be nominated for the accolade on select BBC websites. A national panel of judges composed of leading sporting individuals, BBC Sport and BBC Nations and Regions representatives and a former Unsung Hero Award recipient determined the overall winner and two runners-up from all 15 BBC Nations and Regions. The winner of the award was announced during the show.[8] Doreen Adcock, the Milton Keynes-based swimming instructor, was named the recipient; she received the accolade from the swimmer Rebecca Adlington and the snooker player Jimmy White.[18]

2009 BBC Sports Unsung Hero Award winner[13]
Nationality Winner Location BBC Region Sport Rationale Refs
 ENG Doreen Adcock Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire BBC East Swimming for teaching over 13,000 people to swim in the town of Milton Keynes over the last 35 years. [18][19]

Team of the Year

The BBC Sports Team of the Year Award was given to "the (British only) team that has achieved the most notable performance in British sport."[8] A 30-strong judging panel made up of sporting experts from select national and regional magazine and newspaper sports editors determined the winner. They voted for the first and second preferences as their first two selections, with two points going for first position and one point for second. The team with the highest number of points was selected to earn the Team of the Year. The team with the highest number of first positions would earn the award had a tiebreak been declared, although the accolade would be shared if a tie was still present.[8]

England's 2009 Ashes winning cricket team was named the winners of the accolade for the second time after its first in 2005.[20] Flintoff accepted the award on behalf of the team by Dame Kelly Holmes and Joe Calzaghe while it was touring South Africa.[12]

Winner and nominees of the 2009 BBC Sports Team of the Year Award[13]
Nation Nominee Sport 2009 achievement
 England England cricket team Cricket Won the 2009 Ashes series[20]
 England Brawn GP Formula One Won the 2009 Formula One World Constructors' Championship[21]
 England England women's cricket team Cricket Won the 2009 Women's Cricket World Cup and the 2009 ICC Women's World Twenty20[22]
 Ireland Irish Rugby Rugby union Achieved rugby union's Grand Slam for the second time in the history of Ireland[23]

Coach of the Year

The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Coach Award had three nominees in 2009 and was won by Fabio Capello.[24]

Winner and Nominees of the 2009 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Coach Award[13]
Nominee Sport 2009 Achievement
Fabio Capello Football Guided England through World Cup qualification, only losing a single game in the process.
Andy Flower Cricket Coached England to Ashes victory against Australia.
Alex Ferguson Football Won the Premier League for the third consecutive time; the first manager to do so twice.

Lifetime Achievement Award

The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award is given to sports people who make an impact during their life. The 2009 Award was given to golfer Seve Ballesteros.[25] This was the second time he was honoured with the reward, the first being in 1997. In 1984, Ballesteros also won the Overseas Personality Award. He was honoured for his contribution to golf. During his career he won The Open three times, The Masters twice, and played a significant role in The Ryder Cup. In 2008, Ballesteros was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour. José María Olazábal presented the award, whilst Colin Montgomerie paid tribute in the studio.[13]

Overseas Personality

The BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year had three nominees in 2009. Michael Johnson presented the award to the winner, Usain Bolt, who became the third person to win the award in consecutive years after Muhammad Ali and Roger Federer.[26][13]

Winner and Nominees of the 2009 BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year[13]
Nation Nominee Sport 2009 Achievement
Jamaica Usain Bolt Athletics Won three golds at the World Championships in Berlin, achieving world records in the 100m and the 200m.
Switzerland Roger Federer Tennis Completed a career Grand Slam for the first time, including a first win at the French Open. His win at Wimbledon was a record fifteenth Grand Slam title.
United States Tiger Woods Golf A much anticipated return to the sport after injury saw Woods win the 2009 Presidents Cup.

Notes

  1. ^ Packer raised money by rowing across the English Channel, completing the London Marathon and climbing.[15]

References

  1. ^ a b "Stage set for Sports Personality". BBC Sport. 13 December 2009. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d Mackay, Duncan (13 December 2009). "Giggs beats Button and Ennis to BBC Sports Personality". Inside the Games. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  3. ^ Dowell, Ben (30 April 2009). "BBC Sports Personality of the Year event to move to Sheffield". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  4. ^ Slack, Martin (30 April 2009). "BBC sports flagship on its way to Yorkshire". Yorkshire Post. ProQuest 335371371. Retrieved 15 December 2020 – via ProQuest.
  5. ^ "TV Sport: Sports Personality of the Year". RTÉ Guide: 40. 12 December 2009. Retrieved 15 December 2020 – via PressReader.
  6. ^ "Network Radio BBC Week 50: Sunday 13 December 2009". BBC Press Office. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  7. ^ a b c "BBC Sports Personality Of The Year 2009 shortlist unveiled". BBC Press Office. 1 December 2009. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i "SPOTY Voting & Judging: Terms & conditions". BBC Sport. 18 November 2008. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  9. ^ "BBC award stuns Giggs". The World Game. Press Association. 1 May 2014. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  10. ^ White, Jim (23 October 2009). "Jim White: Ryan Giggs should beat Jenson Button to BBC Sports Personality of the Year". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  11. ^ Harris, Nick (14 December 2009). "Giggs left speechless by shock victory in BBC poll". The Independent. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  12. ^ a b c d "Ryan Giggs wins BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2009". BBC Press Office. 13 December 2009. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h Bryant, Tom (13 December 2009). "BBC Sports Personality of the Year – as it happened!". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 17 December 2009. Retrieved 13 December 2009.
  14. ^ Hudson, Louise (14 December 2009). "Jessica Ennis edged into third spot behind Giggs and Button at BBC awards". Sportsister. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  15. ^ a b "Major Phil Packer wins Helen Rollason award". BBC Sport. 13 December 2009. Archived from the original on 18 December 2009. Retrieved 13 December 2009.
  16. ^ a b Hart, Simon (23 November 2009). "Tom Daley, Heather Watson and Jodie Williams up for BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  17. ^ "Izzard handed BBC special award". 13 December 2009. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  18. ^ a b "Doreen now the pride of the BBC too". Milton Keynes Citizen. 14 December 2009. Retrieved 9 March 2021 – via Gale OneFile: News.
  19. ^ "Doreen is swimmers' unsung hero". BBC News. 4 December 2009. Archived from the original on 9 March 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  20. ^ a b "England win BBC Team award". ESPNcricinfo. 13 December 2009. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  21. ^ Edmondson, Laurence (30 March 2020). "The untold stories of Brawn GP: How close the fairy tale came to never happening". ESPN. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  22. ^ Shemilt, Stephan (7 October 2012). "Women's World T20 cricket: Australia beat England in final". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  23. ^ Cummiskey, Gavin (14 March 2018). "Grand Slam winners 2009 – where are they now?". The Irish Times. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  24. ^ "Fabio Capello handed BBC Sports Personality Coach prize". BBC Sport. 13 December 2009. Archived from the original on 14 December 2009. Retrieved 14 December 2009.
  25. ^ "Seve Ballesteros to get BBC Lifetime Achievement award". BBC Sport. 11 December 2009. Archived from the original on 14 December 2009. Retrieved 12 December 2009.
  26. ^ "Sprinter Usain Bolt secures BBC Overseas award again". BBC. 13 December 2009. Archived from the original on 17 December 2009. Retrieved 14 December 2009.