Bradley Wiggins named Sports Personality of the Year 2012
Bradley Wiggins completed off his historic sporting year by being crowned the BBC Sports Personality of the Year for 2012.
The achievement caps a remarkable year for the 32 year old, who won Paris-Nice and the Tour de Romandie before defending his Criterium du Dauphine title in June, and then became the first British rider to win the Tour de France before capturing his sixth Olympic gold medal in the men’s time trial.
Runner-up was fellow Olympian Jessica Ennis, while US Open and Olympic Gold medalist Andy Murry was third.
After collecting his prize, Wiggins said on stage: “I’d like to say thank you very much to everyone who picked the phone up and voted.
After receiving the main award from the Duchess of Cambridge, Wiggins could not resist having a bit of fun with the phone voting sating: “We have had all that jungle stuff and X Factor in the last few weeks, so for people to pick up the phone and vote in half an hour, thank you very much.
“What a year. To stand on this stage with the people next to me is incredible. I’d like to thank my team-mates – I wouldn’t be on this stage without them. I’d like to thank [British Cycling boss] Dave Brailsford, the coaches, British Cycling, Team Sky and all the Olympians.”
The man who helped deliver a large chunk of Team GB’s success this year, cycling chief Dave Brailsford, won the coach of the year award.
British Cycling performance director Brailsford was key to Britain’s 15 cycling medals in London and also headed the Team Sky outfit which guided Wiggins to victory in the Tour de France.
After receiving his award Brailsford said:”It’s a huge privilege to win this because it was a fantastic summer of sport. There is a great team behind me at British Cycling and Team Sky.
“They did a brilliant job. I would like to thank head coach Shane Sutton and all the team for the work they have done.
Team of the Year Award was shared by all those who competed in both Games at London 2012, with the Award being decided unanimously by the judging committee. Victoria Pendleton, who accepted the trophy, was quick to thank all those working behind the scenes as well as the huge numbers of supporters who turned out during the happy four weeks.
Overseas Sports Personality went to the fastest man on the planet Usain Bolt, who won gold in the 100 metres, 200m and the 4x100m relay at this years Olympics.
The Duchess also handed out this years Lifetime Achievement Award to Lord Sebastian Coe, for his sporting career all the way from his rivalry with Steve Ovett of 1980, his defence of his 1500 metre title during the Los Angeles Olympics, and culminating in his supreme handling of the London Games 28 years later.
Finally Swimmer Josef Craig became the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year after becoming GB’s youngest gold medallist at the Paralympics.
The ExCel Arena in London which had played host to many of the Olympic events – was filled to capacity with a 15,000 crowd, making it the biggest show in it’s 59-year-old history.
More than 1.6m phone votes were recorded for the 12 BBC Sports Personality contenders.
Below are the results of the phone voting for the 2012 BBC Sports Personality of the Year main award:
Total votes: 1,626,718
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%)
