The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Helen Rollason Award is an award given annually as part of the

BBC Sports Personality of the Year The BBC Sports Personality of the Year is an awards ceremony that takes place annually in December. Devised by Paul Fox in 1954, it originally consisted of just one, the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award. Several new awards have been i ...

ceremony each December. The award is given “for outstanding achievement in the face of adversity”, and

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

selects the winner. The award is named after the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

sports presenter

Helen Rollason Helen Frances Rollason (''née'' Grindley; 11 March 1956 – 9 August 1999) was a British sports journalist and television presenter, who in 1990 became the first female presenter of the BBC's sports programme ''Grandstand''. She was also a re ...

, who died in August 1999 at the age of 43 after suffering from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

for two years. Helen Rollason was the first female presenter of ''

Grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap a ...

''. After being diagnosed with cancer, she helped raise over £5 million to set up a cancer wing at the

North Middlesex Hospital North Middlesex University Hospital, known locally as North Mid, is a district general hospital in Edmonton in the London Borough of Enfield. The hospital is managed by North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust. History The hospital was e ...

, where she received most of her treatment. The inaugural recipient of the award was

horse trainer A horse trainer is a person who tends to horses and teaches them different disciplines. Some of the responsibilities trainers have are caring for the animals' physical needs, as well as teaching them submissive behaviors and/or coaching them for e ...

Jenny Pitman Jenny may refer to: * Jenny (given name), a popular feminine name and list of real and fictional people * Jenny (surname), a family name Animals * Jenny (donkey), a female donkey * Jenny (gorilla), the oldest gorilla in captivity at the time of h ...

, in 1999. Other winners include South African

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

sprinter

Oscar Pistorius Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius (; ; born 22 November 1986) is a South African convicted murderer and former professional sprinter. Both of his feet were amputated when he was 11 months old owing to a congenital defect; he was born missing the o ...

, who won the award in 2007. Several recipients have not played a sport professionally, including

Jane Tomlinson Jane Emily Tomlinson, (née Goward; 21 February 1964 – 3 September 2007) was an amateur English athlete who raised £1.85 million for charity by completing a series of athletic challenges, despite suffering from terminal cancer. Having ...

, who won in 2002,

Kirsty Howard Kirsty Ellen Howard (20 September 1995 – 24 October 2015) was an English children's hospice advocate known for her fundraising efforts for Francis House Children's Hospice in Didsbury, Manchester. As a patient of the hospice, Howard was the fig ...

(2004), Phil Packer (2009), Anne Williams, who received the award posthumously in 2013, and eight-year-old

Bailey Matthews Bailey Matthews (born 2006) is a British schoolboy, from Worksop, who has won awards for his sporting achievements in the face of his cerebral palsy. Matthews made international headlines in 2015 after completing his first junior triathlon (a ...

(2015).

Michael Watson Michael Watson (born 15 March 1965) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 1991. He held the Commonwealth middleweight title from 1989 to 1991, and challenged three times for a world title between 1990 and 1991. Wats ...

, who won the award in 2003, had a career in boxing but was paralysed and almost killed in a title bout with

Chris Eubank Christopher Livingstone Eubank (born 8 August 1966) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 1998. He held the WBO middleweight and super-middleweight titles between 1990 and 1995, and is ranked by BoxRec as the thir ...

. He won the award for completing the

London Marathon The London Marathon is an annual marathon held in London, United Kingdom, and is the 2nd largest annual road race in the UK, after the Great North Run in Newcastle. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held ...

, an accomplishment that took him six days. Former footballer

Geoff Thomas Geoff or Geoffrey Thomas may refer to: * Geoffrey Thomas (academic) (born 1941), president of Kellogg College, Oxford * Geoffrey Thomas (businessman) (born 1959), Australian businessman * Geoff Thomas (footballer, born 1948) (1948–2013), Welsh fo ...

won the award in 2005; he raised money by cycling the 2,200 miles (3,540.56 km) of the

2005 Tour de France The 2005 Tour de France was the 92nd edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It took place between 2–24 July, with 21 stages covering a distance . It has no overall winner—although American cyclist Lance Armstrong origin ...

course in the same number of days as the professionals completed it. In 2006,

Paul Hunter Paul Alan Hunter (14 October 1978 – 9 October 2006) was an English professional snooker player. He was a three-time Masters champion, winning the event in 2001, 2002, and 2004, recovering from a deficit in the final to win 10–9 on a ...

posthumously received the award, who died from dozens of

malignant Malignancy () is the tendency of a medical condition to become progressively worse. Malignancy is most familiar as a characterization of cancer. A ''malignant'' tumor contrasts with a non-cancerous ''benign'' tumor in that a malignancy is not s ...

neuroendocrine tumour Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are neoplasm A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of t ...

s – his widow Lindsay accepted the award on his behalf.

Winners

By year

By nationality

This table lists the total number of awards won by recipients of each nationality, based on the principle of ''

jus soli ''Jus soli'' ( , , ; meaning "right of soil"), commonly referred to as birthright citizenship, is the right of anyone born in the territory of a state to nationality or citizenship. ''Jus soli'' was part of the English common law, in contras ...

''.

By sport

This table lists the total number of awards won by recipients' sporting profession.

Notes

* Jane Tomlinson was an amateur athlete who competed in

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

s, and

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the t ...

s – these represent sporting disciplines of

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

, and

cycling Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...

. * Kirsty Howard was the

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

accompanying

David Beckham David Robert Joseph Beckham (; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the current president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Known for his range of passing, crossing ability and bending fr ...

for the FIFA World Cup qualifier against Greece and later became the final carrier in the

Queen's Baton Relay The Queen's Baton Relay is a relay around the world held prior to the beginning of the Commonwealth Games. The Baton carries a message from the Head of the Commonwealth, currently King Charles III. The Relay traditionally begins at Buckingha ...

for the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002 were held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August, 2002. The 2002 Games were to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coin ...

. * Major Phil Packer raised money by rowing across the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

, completing the

, and

climbing Climbing is the activity of using one's hands, feet, or any other part of the body to ascend a steep topographical object that can range from the world's tallest mountains (e.g. the eight thousanders), to small boulders. Climbing is done fo ...

. * The fractions refer to

Alastair Hignell Alastair James Hignell (born 4 September 1955) is an English former rugby union international, first–class cricketer, and broadcaster. Education Hignell was born at Ely, Cambridgeshire and educated at Denstone College, an independent school ...

, who played cricket professionally and rugby union at the top level.

References

General * Specific {{featured list

Awards established in 1999 1999 establishments in the United Kingdom