Andy Murray wins BBC Sports Personality of the Year

Andy Murray was awarded BBC Sports Personality of the Year last night.

The Wimbledon champion, who ended Britain’s 77-year wait for a men’s singles champion at Wimbledon this year, was handed the trophy by former tennis star Martina Navratilova after topping the public vote.

Appearing at the ceremony in Leeds via videolink from a training camp in Miami, the Scot said: “I’ve got a few people to thank – my family first. A lot are there in the crowd. They’ve supported me since I was a kid, making a lot of sacrifices for me. I couldn’t have done it without you.

“My team are also all standing behind the camera here. They’ve been with me for a long time and I also couldn’t have done it without them. Thank you to all of them.”

“I know I’m sometimes not the easiest person to support, but I’ve had a lot of pressure on me for a long time.”

“I’m just glad I finally managed to break through. No matter how excited I try to sound my voice still sounds incredibly boring but I’m actually incredibly excited right now. That’s just my voice – I’m sorry.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be there tonight but I couldn’t have got in the position I’m in if I didn’t take my training and preparation extremely hard.”

“I’ve been doing it for the last five or six years and I’ve dedicated probably the last 10 years of my life to this.”

Murray beat British and Irish Lions rugby union player Leigh Halfpenny who finished second and horse-racing jockey AP McCoy in third place.

The other winners were:

• Overseas Sports Personality of the Year: Sebastian Vettel,who won a fourth consecutive Formula One title in October.
• Young Sports Personality of the Year: Amber Hill, who at 15 became the youngest winner of a senior World Cup in skeet shooting and finished the season ranked number one senior in Great Britain and number five in the world.
• Sports Personality of the Year Diamond Award: Sir Alex Ferguson, who retired in May after more than 26 years as Manchester United manager during which he won 38 trophies.
• Helen Rollason Award: Anne Williams, the Hillsborough justice campaigner, who died in April.
• Sports Unsung Hero: Joe and Maggie Forber for their work promoting basketball in Manchester.