BBC Sports Personality Of The Year 2006

Tuesday 5th December 2006 - NEC, Birmingham

Hosted by Sue Barker, Gary Lineker and Adrian Chiles

Broadcast live on Sunday 10th December 7pm BBC1

Please see below for winners highlighted in red

BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2006 shortlist unveiled

Ten sportsmen and women from nine very different sports and all four nations of the United Kingdom make up the shortlist for BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2006. The shortlist (in alphabetical order) is:

Jenson Button – Formula One
Joe Calzaghe – Boxing
Darren Clarke – Golf
Nicole Cooke – Cycling
Ricky Hatton – Boxing
Andy Murray – Tennis
Monty Panesar – Cricket
Zara Phillips – Equestrianism
Phil Taylor – Darts
Beth Tweddle – Gymnastics

These ten sporting celebrities, whose 2006 highlights are attached at the end of this release, will now compete for the public vote on the night during the show that will be covered live on BBC One from 7.00-9.00pm on Sunday 10 December.

The public will be able to vote for their Sports Personality either by ‘phone or text vote during the show – details of the numbers to vote on will be given at the start of the programme. Only the public can vote for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

The shortlist was put together by an expert panel of 36 sport editors (from all national newspapers, selected regional newspapers and magazines), BBC sporting celebrities and the general public, via the BBC Sport website.

This year’s Awards are being held at Birmingham’s NEC, the first time in the distinguished 53-year history of BBC Sports Personality of the Year that the show has taken place outside London. The 3000 public tickets which went on sale in October sold out in 50 minutes.

Winners:

Team of the Year – chosen by BBC Radio Five Live listeners
St Helens Rugby League Side
St Helens claimed the first of two honours in Birmingham as the rugby league side were rewarded for their treble-winning achievements.  BBC Radio Five Live listeners voted the side as Team of the Year, ahead of Europe's Ryder Cup golfers and Sussex County Cricket Club.

Coach of the Year
Daniel Anderson
Australian Anderson made it a memorable double for St Helens.  The former New Zealand coach earned the award for guiding the team to Challenge Cup, minor Premiership and Grand Final triumph.
 
Lifetime Achievement
Bjorn Borg
Swedish tennis legend Borg was recognised for his contribution to sport.  The five-time Wimbledon champion dazzled the world of tennis in the 1970s and 1980s, winning 11 Grand Slam titles. He was given the award by former tennis player and BBC pundit Boris Becker.

Overseas Sports Personality – to be decided by the studio audience on the night.
Roger Federer
Tennis ace Federer remained a firm favourite with British fans by scooping the prestigious overseas award for the second time in three years.  2006 proved to be another vintage year for the Swiss player, who pipped golfing star Tiger Woods in a studio audience vote at the NEC in Birmingham.  The Swiss tennis ace ended the season as the world number one for the third time in a row and lost only five matches this year.

Helen Rollason Award - named after the former BBC presenter and given for showing courage in adversity.
Paul Hunter
Snooker star Hunter's award for courage and achievement was accepted by his widow Lindsey Hunter.  The three-time Masters champion sadly passed away two months ago after losing his battle with cancer.  He gained the honour in recognition of his bravery and determination to continue playing while trying to beat the disease.

Young Sports Personality
Theo Walcott
Walcott lost out to sprinter Harry Aikines-Aryeetey for the award 12 months ago but was rewarded the top prize this time after a fantastic year in which he transferred to Arsenal and went to the World Cup with England.  Previous winners include footballer Wayne Rooney in 2002 and tennis player Andy Murray in 2004.

Unsung Hero – awarded to an individual who works behind the scenes, on a voluntary basis, making a real difference to a sports club or team.
Val Hanover
Awarded for the winner's dedication to North Shropshire Special Olympics Club.  Hanover impressed the judges with her great commitment to people with learning disabilities, firmly believing in the power of sport to enrich lives.  She is also a passionate fund-raiser.

Special award
David Walliams
Comedian Walliams was handed a surprise one-off award for his outstanding achievement of swimming the English Channel for charity.  Walliams completed the gruelling 21-mile swim to France in 10 hours and 34 minutes back in August.  He raised over £1m in aid of Sport Relief and was presented the award by Little Britain co-star Matt Lucas.

Sports Personality of the Year Contenders – 2006 highlights

Jenson Button - secured his maiden Formula One victory
Jenson Button’s first season with Honda was typified by highs and lows. After a string of unfortunate retirements over June and July, Button’s 2006 campaign burst into life when in August he won the Hungarian Grand Prix to clinch his first Formula One victory in his 113th race. Mastering tricky conditions, Button rose from 14th on the grid to become the first British winner of a Grand Prix in three years – it was also Honda's first win as a constructor since 1967. From there the 26 year-old Englishman consistently completed every remaining race of the season in the points and finished sixth in the World Drivers Championship. 

Joe Calzaghe – IBF & WBO Super Middleweight boxing champion
2006 was the year that Joe Calzaghe added the IBF Super Middleweight title to his WBO Super Middleweight belt. The Welshman’s ruthless 12-round demolition of American Jeff Lacy in the M.E.N. Arena in March was one of the all-time great British world championship performances as Calzaghe’s opponent did not win a single round on a single card. That victory also catapulted the 34 year-old into boxing nirvana - the world's top 10 pound-for-pound list. Most recently in October he retained both his WBO and IBF titles in an aggressive clash with Cameroon’s Sakio Bika and recorded his 42nd victory in his 42nd fight. 

Darren Clarke – 2006 Ryder Cup hero
It is no understatement to say that 2006 was a year of triumph and personal tragedy for Darren Clarke. A solid year of golf from the Northern Irishman was put firmly in perspective by the death of his wife Heather on August 13 at just 39 years of age. But, showing great courage, the 38 year-old made himself available for selection for the Ryder Cup team six weeks later and contributed three points from three matches. Clarke’s emotional singles victory over Zach Johnson, when he broke down in tears after holing his final putt on the 16th green, is the abiding memory of Europe's 18½ to 9½ victory over the USA.

Nicole Cooke – world beating women’s road race cyclist
Nicole Cooke completely dominated women’s road race cycling in 2006. In August, following a string of successes, the 23 year-old from Wales was unveiled as the world number one women's road cyclist. A month later and she secured the Women's World Cup with a race in hand. But that wasn’t all: she won the women's Tour de France (La Grande Boucle) having led from start to finish; the British Road Race Championship; major races such as La Flèche Wallonne, the Castilla y Leon World Cup Race, the Thüringen-Rundfahrt stage race and the Magali Pache, the biggest time trial race of her career.

Ricky Hatton - WBA welterweight boxing champion
2006 has been an interesting year to say the least for Ricky Hatton. He has held three world championship belts but relinquished them all. He gave up his IBF and WBA Light Welterweight titles to step up a weight and fight Luis Collazo for the WBA Welterweight title in May. The American gave Hatton arguably the toughest fight of his career but the 28 year-old from Manchester scored a unanimous points victory, taking his career record to an undefeated 41 wins, with 30 KOs. In August however Hatton gave up the WBA Welterweight title to step down a division and in January 2007 will try to reclaim his IBF Light Welterweight title.

Andrew Murray – ever improving British tennis number one
Another year of spectacular progress for the 19 year-old Scot, who bounced back from a first round exit at the Australian Open by winning his first ATP Tour event, the SAP Open in San Jose, in February. He reached the fourth round at Wimbledon and the US Open, playing some scintillating tennis along the way. In August he reached his second ATP final, the Legg Mason Classic, and later that month scored a notable victory over world No.1 Roger Federer. In September he played a leading role in Great Britain’s vital Davis Cup victory over Ukraine. During 2006 Murray moved from 64th to 17th in the world rankings and became British number one.

Monty Panesar – English cricket’s summer Test sensation
It’s been quite a 2006 for the 24 year-old attacking left-arm spinner from Luton. He was selected in January for the tour to India in March and became the first Sikh to represent a nation other than India in Test cricket. But it was his performances in the summer Tests in England against Pakistan that saw Panesar’s stock rise. In the First Test at Old Trafford he and Steve Harmison took 19 of the 20 Pakistani wickets (Panesar took eight) in the match where England recorded an innings and 120 run victory. Then at Headingley he was England's best bowler, with many claiming him to be England's most exciting spinner for 30 years.

Zara Phillips – World Equestrian Games gold medallist
The World Equestrian Games in August provided double cause for celebration for Zara Phillips. The 25 year-old claimed individual gold on her horse Toytown in the three-day eventing competition at the World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany, and also helped Great Britain secure a team silver. Phillips gave a near faultless performance over the three days of dressage, cross-country and show-jumping. The victory made her only the third rider to hold both World and European titles concurrently. Her mother, the Princess Royal, was awarded Sports Personality in 1971 and should she win tonight they would become the first members of the same family to win the top prize. 

Phil Taylor – Thirteen times World Darts champion
Some consider 13 unlucky, but not Phil “The Power” Taylor who secured his thirteenth World Darts Championship in 2006. Considered by many to be Britain’s finest ever darts player to grace the oche, Taylor started the year in emphatic style with a 7-0 whitewash of Peter Manley in the PDC World Championship Final. He then retained the Premier League crown, again unbeaten, before winning the first World Series of Darts. The 47 year-old from Stoke-on-Trent then claimed the World Matchplay title for the eighth time, the World Darts Trophy for the first time and his seventh World Grand Prix title in October.

Beth Tweddle – European and World gymnastics gold medallist
2006 just got better and better for Beth Tweddle, who is the most decorated British gymnast of all time. After being forced to withdraw from the Commonwealth Games with an ankle injury, the 21 year-old from Cheshire recuperated for the European Championships in April and won gold on the uneven bars, becoming the first British gymnast ever to win a gold medal at Europeans. But Beth was to improve on that and cement her position as the finest gymnast this country has ever produced when in October she claimed Britain's first ever gold medal at the gymnastics' World Championships, after winning the uneven bars event in Aarhus, Denmark.

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