Last year Andy Murray won the trophy. He thanked the nation for all of their support and he spoke in his usual understated manor as he accepted the 2013 Sports Personality Award. I wouldn't for one moment question his achievements as a tennis player but I was left wondering what part of his personality had contributed to his win? In Andy's case it was clear he was going to take the award after securing that elusive Wimbledon title and he had my vote purely due to his sporting results.
I've been honoured to be on the panel for a smaller sports personality award and the debate comes up time and time again: which is more important, the personality or the results? Is it the background story, the press coverage they've had or the popularity of their sport that sways the vote? I've always argued that it should only be the results for that particular year that do the talking but it is hard to ignore the other influencing factors. With a public vote the personality is naturally a stronger factor so instead should we have a sportsperson of the year award where the results are somehow fairly compared?
This year it was the more popular sports that took the top slots. Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton won the SPOTY title followed by golfer Rory Mclllroy in second. It was, however, refreshing and brilliant to see the lovely Jo Pavey take third place. It's great to see the smaller sport of athletics represented, have a girl in the top three and most importantly to have a down to earth Devonian prove that sheer determination does pay off.
