The 2012 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, presented on 16 December, was the 59th presentation of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award. Awarded annually by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the main titular award honours an individual's British sporting achievement over the past year, with the winner selected by public vote from a 12-person shortlist. The winner of the 2012 award was Bradley Wiggins, the Tour de France and Olympic time trial champion. The awards ceremony was hosted at

ExCeL London ExCeL London (an abbreviation for Exhibition Centre London) is an exhibition centre, international convention centre and former hospital in the Custom House, Newham, Custom House area of London Borough of Newham, Newham, East London. It is sit ...

, which had been a venue for several sports during the

2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

and

Paralympics 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 impaired ...

Basis of nominations

Prior to 2012, a panel of thirty sports journalists each submit a list of ten contenders. From these contenders a shortlist of ten nominees is determined—currently, in the event of a tie at the end of the nomination process, a panel of six former award winners determined the nominee by a Borda count. The shortlist was announced at the beginning of December, and the winner was determined on the night of the ceremony by a public telephone vote. In 2011 the shortlist produced only contained male competitors, which caused media uproar. The selection process for contenders was changed for the 2012 (and future) awards as follows: The BBC introduced an expert panel who were asked to devise a shortlist that reflected UK sporting achievements on the national and/or international stage, represented the breadth and depth of UK sports and took into account "impact" within and beyond the sport or sporting achievement in question. The 2012 panel comprised: * Barbara Slater, Director of BBC Sport (Chair) *The BBC’s Head of TV Sport (Philip Bernie) *The Executive Editor of BBC Sports Personality of the Year (Carl Doran). *A representative from BBC Radio 5 Live - this year,

Eleanor Oldroyd Eleanor Oldroyd (born in Bury, Lancashire, 2 June 1962) is a British sports broadcaster with BBC Radio. Early life Oldroyd was educated at Oxford High School and Girton College at Cambridge University. Broadcasting career Beginning her career i ...

. *Three national newspaper sports editors (to be rotated annually) - this year, Mike Dunn (''The Sun''),

Lee Clayton Lee Clayton (born Billy Schatz; October 29, 1942June 12, 2023) was an American songwriter and musician. He notably wrote Waylon Jennings' 1972 outlaw country song "Ladies Love Outlaws". Biography Clayton grew up in Oak Ridge, Tennessee an ...

(''Daily Mail'') and Matthew Hancock (''The Observer'') *Three former nominees (to be appointed annually) - this year, Sir

Steve Redgrave Sir Steven Geoffrey Redgrave (born 23 March 1962) is a British retired rower who won gold medals at five consecutive Olympic Games from 1984 to 2000. He has also won three Commonwealth Games gold medals and nine World Rowing Championships golds ...

, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson and

Denise Lewis Denise Lewis (born 27 August 1972) is a British sports presenter and former track and field athlete, who specialised in the heptathlon. She won the gold medal in the heptathlon at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, was twice Commonwealth Games champion, ...

OBE *A pan-sports broadcaster/journalist - this year, Sue Mott * Baroness Sue Campbell, Chair of UK Sport. The panel would endeavour to produce a shortlist based on reaching a consensus view. If a consensus view cannot be reached on all or some of the candidates, then they will be asked to vote for the remaining candidates. In 2012, following the success of the London 2012 Olympic Games, the SPOTY shortlist was expanded to 12 contenders.

Nominees

The nominees for the 2012 award, as described by the BBC, and their share of the votes cast were as follows:

Voting process

The winner was decided by a public vote on the night of the awards ceremony. Unlike past years the voting opened after every contender has shown a video of them achieving in their sport, not at the beginning of the show.

Other awards

In addition to the main award as "Sports Personality of the Year", several other awards were also announced: *

Team of the Year Team of the Year may refer to: *BBC Sports Personality of the Year Team Award *Canadian Press Team of the Year Award *GPA Gaelic Team of the Year *IRB International Sevens Team of the Year *IRB International Team of the Year *J.League Team of the Y ...

: Team GB * Coach of the Year:

Dave Brailsford Sir David John Brailsford (born 29 February 1964) is a British cycling coach. He was formerly performance director of British Cycling and is currently general manager of UCI WorldTeam . Early life Brailsford was born in Shardlow, Derbyshire, a ...

* Overseas Personality: Usain Bolt * Young Personality:

Josef Craig Josef Isaac Craig, MBE (born 17 February 1997) is a retired British Paralympic swimmer. Craig competed in S8 events and qualified for the 2012 Summer Paralympics, winning gold in a world record time in the men's 400 m freestyle event. Pe ...

Unsung Hero Award The BBC Sports Unsung Hero Award is an award given annually as part of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony each December. The award is given to the sportsperson who has made a substantive yet unrecognised contribution to sport. Sport ...

: Sue and Jim Houghton (Community Sports Organisers) *

Lifetime Achievement Lifetime achievement awards are awarded by various organizations, to recognize contributions over the whole of a career, rather than or in addition to single contributions. Such awards, and organizations presenting them, include: A * A.C. ...

Lord Coe Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, (born 29 September 1956), often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British politician and former track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, including 1500 metres gold medals ...

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

Martine Wright Martine Wiltshire, MBE (née Wright; born 30 September 1972) is a British sitting volleyball player. Wright, who was born in London, lost both of her legs in the Aldgate underground explosion in the 7/7 London bombings in 2005. She lost 80% o ...

In Memoriam

* Sid Waddell * Tommy Godwin * Gary Ablett * Teofilo Stevenson * Don Wilson * John Connelly *

Angelo Dundee Angelo is an Italian masculine given name and surname meaning "angel", or "messenger". People People with the given name *Angelo Accattino (born 1966), Italian prelate of the Catholic Church *Angelo Acciaioli (bishop) (1298–1357), Italian Rom ...

* Sarah Burke *

Nigel Doughty Nigel Edward Doughty (10 June 1957 – 4 February 2012) was a British investor and football club owner, who was co-chairman and co-founder of Doughty Hanson & Co, a European private equity firm based in London. Doughty was born in Newark, Notti ...

* John Oaksey *

Terry Spinks Terence "Terry" George Spinks MBE (28 February 1938 – 26 April 2012) was a boxer from Great Britain, who won the gold medal in the flyweight division (– 51 kg) at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. In the fina ...

Mitchell Cole Mitchell James Cole (6 October 1985 – 30 November 2012) was an English footballer who played as a winger. Cole was forced to retire from professional football in 2011 as a result of a deteriorating heart condition, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy ...

David Tait David Tait (5 July 1987 – 12 December 2012) was a professional rugby union player for Sale Sharks in the Guinness Premiership. Career Tait played as a Number 8, although he could also operate as a Flanker. He also represented Scotland at ...

Brian Woolnough Brian Woolnough (30 September 1948 – 18 September 2012) was a British sports journalist and Chief Sports writer for the '' Daily Star''. Previously a writer for '' The Sun,'' in 1999 the ''Daily Mirror'' tried unsuccessfully to hire him. Woolno ...

*Danny Fullbrook * Lee Richardson *

Mervyn Davies Thomas Mervyn Davies (9 December 1946 – 15 March 2012), often known as "Merv the Swerve", was a Welsh rugby union player who won 38 caps for Wales as a No. 8. Early life Davies was born in Swansea, where he attended Penlan County School ...

* John Bond *Stephen Packer * Jack Taylor *

Tom Maynard Thomas Lloyd Maynard (25 March 1989 – 18 June 2012) was a Welsh professional cricketer who played for Glamorgan and Surrey, and was selected for the England Lions tour to Bangladesh. On the night of his death, he was stopped by police in Wimble ...

Alexander Dale Oen Alexander Dale Oen (; 21 May 198530 April 2012) was a Norwegian swimmer. He represented the clubs Vestkantsvømmerne (1995–2010) and Bærumsvømmerne (2011–2012). Dale Oen's gold at the 2008 European Championships made him the first Norwegi ...

* Dave Sexton *

Jocky Wilson John Thomas "Jocky" Wilson (22 March 1950 – 24 March 2012) was a Scottish professional darts player. After turning pro in 1979, he quickly rose to the top of the game, winning the World Professional Darts Championship in 1982, then again ...

* Kenny Morgans * Paidi O Se * Phil Taylor * Emanuel Steward * Gordon West * Selorm Kuadey *

Sid Watkins Eric Sidney Watkins (6 September 1928 – 12 September 2012), commonly known within the Formula One fraternity as Professor Sid or simply Prof, was an English neurosurgeon. Born in Liverpool, Watkins enrolled at the University of Liverpoo ...

* Mitchell Todd *

Ivor Powell Ivor Verdun Powell, MBE (5 July 1916 – 6 November 2012) was a Welsh football player and manager. He won eight caps for Wales. A wing half, he began his professional career with Queens Park Rangers in September 1937. His career was interr ...

* Joe Egan * Alan McDonald * Josh Gifford * Margaret Osborne duPont *

Campbell Gillies Campbell Gillies (27 June 1990 - 26 June 2012) was a Scottish National Hunt jockey most notable for his victory on Brindisi Breeze in the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle at the 2012 Cheltenham Festival. In total, he rode 131 winners in his car ...

Nevin Spence Nevin Spence (26 April 199015 September 2012) was a Northern Ireland-born Irish rugby union player for Ulster in the Pro12. He played as a Centre, but could also play Wing. He was educated firstly at Dromore High School, where he was introduced ...

References

External links

Official website
{{SPOTY BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards 2012 in British television 2012 in British sport Bbc Bbc December 2012 sports events in the United Kingdom