Wiggins is the bookies favourite at the moment

By a long, long way.

http://www.oddschecker.com/awards/sports-personality-of-the-year/sports-personality-of-the-year/winner

Good to see Ellie Simmonds made the short list.

agree with munqe chick and others, multiple cyclists will split the vote, the tour will mean less and have residual memory than the olympics for jo public.

Ellie Simmonds said she didn’t consider herself disabled, just short.

That’s a great attitude for life for Simmonds there and one it’s hard not to respect. But she needs to see herself a disabled to some extend or she’d be up against other athletes in the Olympics not the Paralympics. I’d have been in the Olympics too apart from not having big enough lungs etc.

I think the best thing that has happened with para athletics is that it has gone beyond the sympathy syndrome and now considered proper athletes in their own right. With that comes the ability to be compared rationally. For me that means it would be very hard for a para star to get my spoty vote simply because, like a lot of other able body sports I’d also not vote for, they are competing in a sport with a much smaller pool of athletes from which to rise to the top from.

Ellie Simmons. Cant abide Bradley Wiggins. And don’t care about the rest.

Ellie Simmons. Cant abide Bradley Wiggins. And don’t care about the rest.

do tell, is it personal, or just a ‘personality’ ting ?

agree with munqe chick and others, multiple cyclists will split the vote

Just like they did in 2008, when 4 (out of 10) of the shortlist were cyclists?

I reckon Mo or Murray with Wiggo third (even though it should be Wiggo by a mile)

jess or mo

Wiggins should win, winning the tdf is no small feat.

Do they win any money or is it just a pointless accolade?

who has done something so far above and beyond what everyone else in the list has achieved that no other Brit has ever done!
Only a fool would bet against Brad

Really? Given that Ben Ainsley has won 4 golds (and a silver in the Olympics before those) over a period of 12 years in a sport where you can only compete in one event, I would say that his is the outstanding acheivement. But it’s sailing so he won’t win.
Not sure about Wiggins winning – hard to tell what the general public will do but I suspect Mo will top the list.

Threes cyclists though may mean the cycling vote is split between them as with last year and the golfing nominees.

Unless, of course, we vote three times. Which I shall be doing 🙂

I think it’s Wiggo or Ennis for the win though.

Which is most likely to be “clean”? All, some, none?

Ainslie for sustained achievement, but little chance
Ennis for carrying the pressure of poster girl/expectation so well – second or third?
Mo for brilliance in the nights – neck and neck with Jess
Simmons for overall performance, good chance (hope at least top 3)
Wiggo – to win

Ian Poulter – for most outstanding individual contribution to a team win. Oh, he’s not there!?! Of course the Ryder Cup was on Sky 😉

Prediction: Wiggo, Simmons, Farah/Ennis (3rd too close to call)

Ainslie[b]Storey[/b] for sustained achievement, but little chance

Threes cyclists though may mean the cycling vote is split between them as with last year and the golfing nominees.

Quite the opposite. Anyone with even a passing interest in cycling will be aware that Wiggo’s achievements are on another level to the other candidates.

BUT – In the first online poll (on a general website) I’ve seen Murray currently has a very slender lead over Wiggo. Jess third, Mo some way behind in 4th.

I’d still back Wiggo myself, but I can see how the non-sports fan might favour Murray after his years of nearly success, then Olympic glory.

Wiggo will win it with about 30% of the vote imo (do we ever get to see voting figures?).

It’ll go to Ennis or Farah

Both are well-liked and recognised by the public, even those who don’t care for sport.

Plus Ennis will get extra voting attention cos everyone seems to fancy her.

I don’t think Wiggins/Cycling quite has the same general public appeal.

Personally, I’d like to see Mo Farah win.

Thats a good list, no footballers for a start and includes people who have won things!! Can’t see the cyclist vote being split, so far no one on this thread has mentioned the other two, which is a pity because I think Chris Hoy’s lifetime achievements are up there with Wiggins/Sky team success. Saying that the tour is pretty special nevermind the Gold and the unprecedented run up to the tour.

A more apparent vote splitter will be Ennis and Farah I reckon, so it could come down to cycling Vs Golf.

We do. IIRC Cavendish got more than half the votes last year.

Edit: 49.47% of the votes 🙂

In that case, my estimate was conservative.

From 2011:
Mark Cavendish 169,152 (49.47%)
Darren Clarke 42,188 (12.34%)
Mo Farah 29,780 (8.71%)
Luke Donald 23,854 (6.98%)
Andy Murray 18,754 (5.48%)
Andrew Strauss 17,994 (5.26%)
Alastair Cook 13,038 (3.81%)
Rory McIlroy 11,915 (3.48%)
Dai Greene 9,022 (2.64%)
Amir Khan 6,262 (1.83%)

That’s not a huge number of actual voters so it’s easy to see how a concerted campaign would swing it.

For me that means it would be very hard for a para star to get my spoty vote simply because, like a lot of other able body sports I’d also not vote for, they are competing in a sport with a much smaller pool of athletes from which to rise to the top from.

Like cycling? Surely a footballer deserves it then, biggest pool of people and that.

Wiggo or Jessica with Mo in third

Ultimately it depends who is watching and voting on the night.

So many worthy candidates in such a great year for sport.

To the trolls posting of sympathy votes for paralympians you are a disgrace.

Really? Given that Ben Ainsley has won 4 golds (and a silver in the Olympics before those) over a period of 12 years in a sport where you can only compete in one event, I would say that his is the outstanding acheivement. But it’s sailing so he won’t win.
Not sure about Wiggins winning – hard to tell what the general public will do but I suspect Mo will top the list.

Ainsley is a great olympian of course, but you do realise that Wiggins also has 4 olympic golds, a silver and 2 bronzes. Achieved over a period of 12 years.

Regarding Murray – fabulous achievement and I’m very happy for him but … he has 4 chances a year every year

Where Murray could win is if he get’s a Scottish campaign behind him, remember when the jockey won, he did so as the horse racing fraternity arranged a massive campaign to vote for him to put horse racing into the spotlight

Ainsley is a great olympian of course, but you do realise that Wiggins also has 4 olympic golds, a silver and 2 bronzes. Achieved over a period of 12 years.

Agree and understood but in sailing the country sends only 1 athlete per class (event). If we were allowed multiple entrants we would probably have sweeps of gold/silver and bronze in some classes and certainly many more medals

3 Scots in the 12 nominees.

From 2011:

Less than 350,000 votes for SPOTY in 2011 ?!!??

Out of a population of over 60 million.

Seems like nobody really gives a monkey’s, and it’s not really ‘public recognition’ when less than 1% of the population bother to vote.

Considering the UK is supposedly such a great sporting nation I would have expected greater public participation.

Good job it’s only a bit of harmless fun. And a chance to wheel out a Sue Barker. Gives her something to do in between Wimbledon’s.

Considering the UK is supposedly such a great sporting nation I would have expected greater public participation.

maybe people do care about sports but just not enough to spend money on a phonecall?

Yo kaiser i agree but for the fact hoy won it a couple years back

in sailing the country sends only 1 athlete per class (event)

So how is that different from cycling?

So how is that different from cycling?

Well, to be fair in cycling that has only been for the last Olympics and only for the track. It is also possible for cyclists to enter for more than one event per Olympics(Hoy team sprint and kierin this year for example) whilst it would be impossible to enter more than one sailing event per Olympics.

So how is that different from cycling?

time trial, road race … plus look at Sir Chris Hoys Medals, he got 3 in Beijing

ah – I see @convert has got there first

maybe people do care about sports but just not enough to spend money on a phonecall?

Is this the same mentality that makes people spend £2500 on a FS MTB, £250 on camelbak/clothing, £25000 on an Audi, £80 on a tank of fuel, drive half the length of the country and then refuse to spend £1.50 to use the trail centre car park and complain about the price of a piece of cake?

😀

@joao3v16 – you’ve got it …

Guardian poll has Wiggo in a clear lead – let’s not get complacent though

SPOTY

I don’t think Cycling quite has the same general public appeal

Your joking right?

2 of the last 4 winners have been cyclists.
3 of the nominees are cyclists
2 of the most unlucky people to be left out are cyclists (Trott* and Kenny)
The TOB attracted record crowds
The mens road race at the Olympics had the most live spectators of any sporting event EVER, the time trial wasn’t far behind.

This country is cycling mad.

*Kelly Holmes got made a Dame for her 2 gold medals, Laura Trott can’t even get nominated for SPOTY! Shows how strong the candidates are this year.

Guardian poll, Wiggins at 53% 😯

Andy Murray ahead of Mo & Jess 😯

Ha! Guardian readers eh, they have got a sense of humour after all …

Important thing is, it looks like SPOTY won’t go to a golfist. Golf? Sport? hahahahahahahahaha … etc

😀

Actually, I’ve just had a politically-correct idea!

Why doesn’t SPOTY adopt the same stupid approach as primary school sports day’s: nobody “wins” or “loses”, they’re all winners!

This way they aren’t mentally scarred for life and grow up to be mass murdering paedophiles just because they came second-to-last in the egg and spoon race when they were 7.

*Kelly Holmes got made a Dame for her 2 gold medals, Laura Trott can’t even get nominated for SPOTY! Shows how strong the candidates are this year.

It will be interesting to see where the honours go this year and if they will be equitable with previous honours. We already have Sirs Chris Hoy, Matthew Pinsent,Steve Redgrave and Dames Kelly Holmes and Tammy Grey-Thomson. Wiggins, Ainslie, Weir, Trott, Kenny, Farah, Ennis? I like the sound of “Sir Mo Farah”. Trott will probably be treated like Adlington and just get an OBE as she is so young in her career; Kenny has always been in Hoy’s shadow but maybe shouldn’t be any more. All the others have a good case the top honour if past form is anything to go by.

I think Andy Murray could take it. I’m thinking of mail reading people like my mum who love sitting down for 2 weeks every year shouting “come on tim Andy” and the LA stuff will have tarnished cycling for them. It’ll come down to wether they can be persuaded to vote (which my mum won’t)

But cyclists are a well organised and militant sort of bunch, so I’ll vote for Brad as a vote for a cyclist is akin to a vote for cycling and the news that 3 cyclists are nominated is over every cycling website today is just a hint of the campaign heading towards to persuade us as cyclists to vote for Wiggo. Plus he’s got a personality and I can appreciate what he’s achieved of course.