[Closed] Sports Personality of the year shortlist

Who would you remove to accommodate Rach, and why?

Rach who? Genuine question.

Rachel Atherton, winner of every round of the DH world cup this year, and currentt world cup holder & world champ. Yer know; mountain biking...?

Rachel Atherton I assume.

Take Murray off - he's not even English.

Kryton57 in there?

The point though, OP is that others have done amazingly well in more mainstream sports and at some of the biggest sporting events in the sporting calendar. We can't cry at RA not being there as mountain biking isn't a mainstream sport.

I am sure there are many other 'worthy' athletes from other sports who are 'deserving ' that you haven't heard of ...

Not surprised she didn't get a nomination. Mountain biking is not a big sport in the public consciousness and rarely gets any mainstream publicity. Not right, but that's the way it is.

They usually do a round up of other sporting achievements in the year, I'd expect her to be on that as the BBC have covered her success briefly.

Who would you remove to accommodate Rach, and why?

Danny Willet, because golf's not a sport.

Given Rachel's season it would have been nice to have her on the list.

Murray has won it twice before but is World #1 as well as Olympic and Wimbledon Champion

Remove one of these ?

Gareth Bale
Nicola Adams
Kate Richardson-Walsh (captain of a team sport ?)
Jason Kenny even

I would take Danny Willet out. Won the Masters after Spieth bottled it but done nothing since and was awful in the Ryder Cup. And the horsey types.

And no Froome on there either.

For me it's between Whitlock, Brownlee and Murray - and I think he deserves it TBF, Wimbledon, Olympic and No.1

Downhill is a bit like that tea tray racing on ice .There are a few who do it and a couple are very good at it .A very niche sport unlike say 5km road running which millions do and which requires very little niche expensive kit and therefore is a bloody sight harder to be a world champion at.

As ever, astounded that anyone even cares who 'wins' this daft award.

Ah, DH not my area of interest so her achievements this year have rather passed me by. Not proud of that. I have heard of her of course but always as Rachel hence the question

So if I was not sure about "Rach" as a keen cyclist interested in a number of other disciplines perhaps it is not surprising her name didn't come up?

She's DH world champ and overall champ which she achieved through hard work (or riding with her brother 😉 and at the top of her game. I think those two prizes mean more than the BBC vote, which does what, validate that shes better at mtb than someone else is at some other sport. WGAF!

[img][url= https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7476/15667474466_147432cb2c_z.jp g" target="_blank">https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7476/15667474466_147432cb2c_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/pStUj7 ]Revolution Cycling Series #1 - Laura Trott[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/londonphotographymeetup/ ]Andrew Theodoropoulos[/url], on Flickr[/img]

[quote=captainsasquatch ]Who would you remove to accommodate Rach, and why?

That's actually a relatively easy question to answer - Jamie Vardy, as he's not even the best in the country at what he does. Though there are a few other people above her in the list to replace him!

Froome not being on it is extraordinary - better than an awful lot of candidates. Amazing to think Rusedski won it for getting to final of US Open.

Jason Kenny is has won as many Olympic Gold medals as Chris Hoy, the equal highest number by any british athlete. he's not a showman but he deserves to be on this list - even though I think it should be Sarah Storey

As ever, astounded that anyone even cares who 'wins' this daft award.

Bah Humbug. It's a great end of year Christmas sports special.

I'm always astounded by the people who don't care posting on the threads about it.

She undoubtedly belongs on the list. Not just DH world cup champ - but winning EVERY round. That's astonishing; not one 'off day' in a sport where a single mistake can cost you a finish, let alone winning. And world-champ too.

Yes, it's a niche sport. But ladies boxing, triathlon and para-olympic equestrian aren't? And good as Vardy's 'back-story' is, he shouldn't be on the list.

Froome should also be in there.

Still, it's Murray for me - he's currently our top sports-person. Whitlock an unlucky second.

[quote=flashinthepan ]Yes, it's a niche sport. But ladies boxing, triathlon and para-olympic equestrian aren't?

There's a clue in the name of one of those - unlike DH MTB they're all Olympic sports and this is an Olympic year. TBH given the success we had in Rio it's a bit of a shock that there's anybody without an Olympic or Paralympic gold medal on the list (though I suppose they had to include some representatives of the sport which prevented the BBC providing live coverage of GB athletes winning medals 🙄 ). Though whilst I have no idea about the other sports, triathlon is [b]way[/b] less niche than DH MTB.

The question though, who else in a similar level niche sport to DH MTB has had just as stellar a year?

i thought the clue was always in the title.. sports personality.. so theres vardy bale and the olympians and golfer i ve never heard of gone.. very poor but politicaly correct shortlist.. and how short is the list...

<controversial mode>
Isn't the fact that Rachael wiped the floor with her competitors more a reflection on the lack of any true competitors?
</controversial mode>

Rachel Atherton, winner of every round of the DH world cup this year, and currentt world cup holder & world champ. Yer know; mountain biking...?

Yea but all the others actually had some competition & the kind of people who watch SPOTY have actually heard of the sports they compete in. Hardly anyone over 18 watches RBTV do they?

Never even heard of half of them. Really.

I'm struggling with the shortlist. I feel it'll become 'who have I most heard of on TV or who looks the nicest on the night' when the voiceover talks about them.

Where's Lewis?

<controversial mode>
Isn't the fact that Rachael wiped the floor with her competitors more a reflection on the lack of any true competitors?
</controversial mode>

Nail on head

Maybe at home but France? Hmmm

Isn't it:

BBC sports personality of the year.

So really just sports the BBC covers.

Opens list. Recognised 4 people, closes list and gets back on with life.
Unfortunately there are thousands of sports people who wont be recognised by events like this.

A big shout out to all of the marshalls around the U.K. who work bloody hard and enable most of these events to go ahead.

That has got to be the strongest field EVER

No one has mentioned Mo ... double double and he's not even going to get a look in ??

Would love Whitlock to get it.... but he'll get another chance at some point in the future, as he gets even better I'm sure.... (My kids go to the same gym and he's a great lad)

Murray ... fantastic year .... should get international sport person 🙂

Kenny ... More golds than any other ??... again not a chance

But maybe its time for a Paralympian to get it and there's no doubt Storey would be a fine winner

11 Paralympic Gold Medals [5 swimming, 6 cycling], 8 Silver Medals [swimming], 3 Bronze Medals [swimming]
24 World Championship titles [6 swimming, 18 cycling]
21 European titles [18 swimming, 3 cycling]
7 World Cup titles [5 Paracycling, 2 able-bodied cycling]
More than 140 National titles [including 5 able-bodied National titles on the track]
73 World Records

As for Atherton ... could easily swap her in for the boxing or horsey girl ??

Isn't the fact that Rachael wiped the floor with her competitors more a reflection on the lack of any true competitors?

This for me..the fact that shes so much better than the limited number of people she competes against, yet at the same time miles behind the blokes, is telling..

There are a lot of deserving Olympians, so it was always going to be a challenge to select the right pool. Max Whitlock and the Kennys are outstanding - if it was just them and a more regular selection any one of them could walk it.

But Murray has made history in a way none of the Olympians have as individuals.

Team GB for "team of the year" almost certainly.

Out of that list I'd pick Murray for the win followed by Bale and Whitlock. Leicester City for team of the year, with honorable mentions to the womens hockey team, Welsh football team and the English rugby team.

If everyone thinks there is an Olympic bias, how come Danny Willett is on the list and Justin Rose isn't?

how come Danny Willett is on the list

First English player to win the masters in 20 years.

Apart from that he's been guff since

Looking at the BBC website Rach appears to be supporting Nicola Adams.

yet at the same time miles behind the blokes

yes, because we see gender parity in other sports, like tennis, road cycling, boxing, swimming, athletics, triathlon, and football. Maybe we see parity in Equestrian events (I don't know) but that's not really a sport. And neither's golf 😉

yes, because we see gender parity in other sports, like tennis, road cycling, boxing, swimming, athletics, triathlon, and football. Maybe we see parity in Equestrian events (I don't know) but that's not really a sport. And neither's golf

Well obviously not...but leads me to believe that shes not some kind of superhuman, defying all logic with her phenomenal performances...if it was shed be a little closer to the boys than she is. I think its fair to say that shes very very good, but her competition is pretty weak

As someone above pointed out, theres most likely numerous other females out there who are dominant in their 'minority sport' as Rach, its just that we haven't heard of them..

Manon won two years ago so there is competition there. But not enough depth of field to really say WOW. Like if Danny Hart clean swept the field for two years we'd be more amazed because there are at least 10 guys capable of winning any race.

It's a combination of both though. She only has to beat her competition but the times she has put into them repeatedly shows how much better she is at the mo. That's a combination of hard work, talent and confidence.

back on topic. SPOTY seems daft. Not sure what personality means.

I know Murray has won it twice but this year he has been epic and deserves it imo.

Unsure why Cav or Froome aren't on there but it's an olympic year

Carl Frampton - unified a title, defended a title and beat a three-weight champion

Johnny Rea world superbike champion again

Bethany Firth? - the most decorated athlete in Rio winning three golds and a silver.

But maybe its time for a Paralympian to get it and there's no doubt Storey would be a fine winner

I'm going to burn in hell for this but for me the para athletes are slightly questionable and possibly slightly tokenistic in their presence on the list for the same reason Atherton is not on the list - the competition to beat is pretty thin on the ground in comparison to the more main stream sports. The counter argument to this is that the back story to them competing and what they have overcome (i.e. personality) is often pretty immense.

No cyclist will win it as too many nominated and it will split the vote.

All a bit controversial as it's sports "personality" or is it sporting achievement! Many say Murray doesn't have a personality I completely disagree. I love triathlon but BRownlee ... why cause he won an olympic medal again? There are more deserving people than that!

Controversial and complicated I won't be bothering voting but I will watch the program for some entertainment one evening.