BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award
Encyclopedia
The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award is an award given annually as part of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year
ceremony each December. The award is given to a sportsperson "who has made a major impact on the world of sport during their lifetime". The winner is selected by BBC Sport
. When football manager Alex Ferguson
won the award in 2001, the BBC
described the award as "a new accolade" to be presented annually; however, two people had already received the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The inaugural recipient of the award was Frank Bruno
in 1996, who won it after his retirement from boxing
that year. Bruno was the favourite to win the main award
in 1995, but lost to Damon Hill
, causing many to criticise his Lifetime Achievement Award as being a consolation award. Golfer Seve Ballesteros won the award the following year, but after that the award was not presented for three years. The award has been presented annually since Ferguson ended the hiatus in 2001. Five of the eleven recipients have been associated with football; tennis
and golf
are the only other sports to have been represented more than once. Seven of the winners have were born in the United Kingdom
, and the other winners were born in Brazil, former Czechoslovakia, Spain, and Sweden. Martina Navratilova is the only woman to have won the award. The only recipient of the award on multiple occasions is Spanish golfer Seve Ballesteros who won in 1997 and again in 2009, for his contribution to golf winning "the Open three times, the Masters twice as well as playing an inspirational role in the Ryder Cup". The most recent winner, in 2010, was David Beckham
.
.
BBC Sports Personality of the Year
The BBC Sports Personality of the Year is an awards ceremony that takes place annually in December. Devised by Paul Fox in 1954, it originally consisted of one titular award. Several new awards have been introduced, and , eight awards are presented. The oldest of these are the Team of the Year and...
ceremony each December. The award is given to a sportsperson "who has made a major impact on the world of sport during their lifetime". The winner is selected by BBC Sport
BBC Sport
BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC. It became a fully dedicated division of the BBC in 2000. It incorporates programmes such as Match of the Day, Grandstand , Test Match Special, Ski Sunday, Rugby Special and coverage of Formula One motor racing, MotoGP and the Wimbledon Tennis...
. When football manager Alex Ferguson
Alex Ferguson
Sir Alexander Chapman "Alex" Ferguson, CBE is a Scottish association football manager and former player, currently managing Manchester United, where he has been in charge since 1986...
won the award in 2001, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
described the award as "a new accolade" to be presented annually; however, two people had already received the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The inaugural recipient of the award was Frank Bruno
Frank Bruno
Franklin Roy Bruno MBE is an English former boxer whose career highlight was winning the WBC Heavyweight championship in 1995. Altogether, he won 40 of his 45 contests...
in 1996, who won it after his retirement from boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
that year. Bruno was the favourite to win the main award
BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award
The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award is the titular award of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony, which takes place each December. The winner is the sportsperson, adjudged by a public vote, to have achieved the most that year. The recipient must either be British or reside and...
in 1995, but lost to Damon Hill
Damon Hill
Damon Graham Devereux Hill OBE is a retired British racing driver. In 1996 Hill won the Formula One World Championship. As the son of the late Graham Hill, he is the only son of a world champion to win the title...
, causing many to criticise his Lifetime Achievement Award as being a consolation award. Golfer Seve Ballesteros won the award the following year, but after that the award was not presented for three years. The award has been presented annually since Ferguson ended the hiatus in 2001. Five of the eleven recipients have been associated with football; tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
and golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
are the only other sports to have been represented more than once. Seven of the winners have were born in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and the other winners were born in Brazil, former Czechoslovakia, Spain, and Sweden. Martina Navratilova is the only woman to have won the award. The only recipient of the award on multiple occasions is Spanish golfer Seve Ballesteros who won in 1997 and again in 2009, for his contribution to golf winning "the Open three times, the Masters twice as well as playing an inspirational role in the Ryder Cup". The most recent winner, in 2010, was David Beckham
David Beckham
David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE is an English footballer who plays midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, having previously played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, and A.C...
.
By year
| Year | Nat. | Winner | Sport | Rationale | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 |  England |
Boxing Boxing Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds... |
for his contributions to boxing which include winning the WBC World Boxing Council The World Boxing Council was initially established by 11 countries: the United States, Argentina, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Philippines, Panama, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Brazil plus Puerto Rico, met in Mexico City on February 14, 1963, upon invitation of the then President of Mexico, Adolfo... heavyweight title. |
||
| 1997 |  Spain |
Golf Golf Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes.... |
"in recognition of his outstanding contribution to European golf over the last 20 years." | ||
| 2001 |  Scotland |
Football | for a managing career at Manchester United Manchester United F.C. Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958... since 1986 which has won seven league titles English football champions The English football champions are the winners of the highest league in English football, which is currently the Premier League. Teams in bold are those who won the double of League Championship and FA Cup, or the European Double of League Championship and European Cup in that season.Following the... and "claimed an unprecedented treble of Premiership, FA Cup and European Cup". |
||
| 2002 |  Northern Ireland |
Football | "in recognition of his footballing achievements", which include being named "Footballer of the Year and European Player of the Year Ballon d'Or 1968 The 1968 Ballon d'Or, given to the best football player in Europe as judged by a panel of sports journalists from UEFA member countries, was awarded to George Best on 24 December 1968.Best was the first Northern Irish national to win the award... in 1968", and winning two championship Football League First Division The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship.... medals and a European Cup 1968 European Cup Final The 1968 European Cup Final was the 13th European Cup Final and the culmination of the 1967–68 European Cup, a club football tournament for the champions of European leagues. The match was held at Wembley Stadium, London, on 29 May 1968, between Manchester United of England and Benfica of Portugal... with Manchester United Manchester United F.C. Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958... . |
||
| 2003 |  Czechoslovakia |
Tennis Tennis Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all... |
"for a trophy-laden tennis career spanning 30 years, (...) winning a record 167 singles titles and an astonishing 329 trophies overall, 140 ahead of her nearest rival." | ||
| 2004 | England |
Cricket Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the... |
"for services to cricket" where he played 102 Tests Test cricket Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days... for England in his 15 year career as an all-rounder All-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a few batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are considered specialists... . "During that time he took 383 wickets, which remains an English record, and scored 5,200 runs." |
||
| 2005 |  Brazil |
Pelé Pelé However, Pelé has always maintained that those are mistakes, that he was actually named Edson and that he was born on 23 October 1940.), best known by his nickname Pelé , is a retired Brazilian footballer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time... |
Football | for having a professional career in which "he scored 1,280 goals in 1,363 games" and "made 92 appearances for Brazil Brazil national football team The Brazil national football team represents Brazil in international men's football and is controlled by the Brazilian Football Confederation , the governing body for football in Brazil. They are a member of the International Federation of Association Football since 1923 and also a member of the... , scoring 77 goals" and winning three of the four World Cups FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body... he played in. |
|
| 2006 |  Sweden |
Tennis Tennis Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all... |
for "dazzl[ing] the world of tennis in the 1970s and 1980s, winning 11 Grand Slam Grand Slam (tennis) The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and... titles" including 5 Wimbledon The Championships, Wimbledon The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors... championships. |
||
| 2007 | England |
Football | for "his contributions as both player and manager in a career spanning more than half a century" | ||
| 2008 | England |
Football | for achievements that include helping "England to World Cup success in 1966 1966 FIFA World Cup Final The 1966 FIFA World Cup Final was the final match in the 1966 FIFA World Cup, the eighth football World Cup. The match was contested by England and West Germany on 30 July 1966 at Wembley Stadium in London, and had an attendance of 98,000. England won 4–2 after extra time to win the Jules Rimet... and [leading] Manchester United to European Cup glory in 1968, scoring twice in the final 1968 European Cup Final The 1968 European Cup Final was the 13th European Cup Final and the culmination of the 1967–68 European Cup, a club football tournament for the champions of European leagues. The match was held at Wembley Stadium, London, on 29 May 1968, between Manchester United of England and Benfica of Portugal... ". |
||
| 2009 | Spain |
Golf Golf Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes.... |
for his contributions to golf which include winning "the Open three times, the Masters twice (and) playing an inspirational role in the Ryder Cup". | ||
| 2010 | England |
Football | for his playing career as well as his roles in the London 2012 Olympic bid and his central role in attempting to bring the 2018 World Cup to England |
By nationality
This table lists the total number of awards won by each nationality based on the principle of jus soliJus soli
Jus soli , also known as birthright citizenship, is a right by which nationality or citizenship can be recognized to any individual born in the territory of the related state...
.
| Nationality | Number of wins |
|---|---|
| 5 | |
| 2 | |
| 1 | |
| 1 | |
| 1 | |
| 1 | |
| 1 |
By sport
This table lists the total number of awards won by the winners sporting profession.| Sporting profession | Number of wins |
|---|---|
| Football | 6 |
| Golf Golf Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes.... |
2 |
| Tennis Tennis Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all... |
2 |
| Boxing Boxing Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds... |
1 |
| Cricket Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the... |
1 |