It’s all over! The BBC have already moved on to their Sunday evening drama “about a woman who is given the chance to move into a beautiful, ultra-minimalist house designed by an enigmatic architect”, and it’s time for me too to move on to the next phase of my evening. Congratulations to all the brilliant and inspiring athletes nominated for tonight’s awards. Bye!
Let’s see what our champion has to say on the socials, and ... oh.
Being an athlete, healthy hydration continues to be of the upmost importance to my day-to-day activity so I’m excited to partner with evian and can’t wait to see what’s next! pic.twitter.com/J9buLmojUx
— Emma Raducanu (@EmmaRaducanu) December 9, 2021
And that is it! One more video montage - there has been some next-level montage action this evening - and it’s all over. Here’s our news story:
Emma Raducanu speaks!
To win is really pretty amazing to me. I’m really happy with this of course. I’ve watched Spoty growing up so I’m really happy to join the amazing list of past winners. Thanks for all the support I’ve received, it’s been absolutely insane, especially the energy I felt at Wimbledon, playing in front of my home crowd. That was something I’ve never felt before. Thanks to my team and to everyone else’s teams as well, because it’s definitely a team effort.
The Emma Raducanu of the Year award goes to ... Emma Raducanu!
The favourite has won it! She’s back on video link with a bashful wave, and a replica trophy to lift.
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In second place, it’s the equally conveniently studio-based diving legend and all-round good egg Tom Daley!
In third place, it’s breaststroke monster Adam Peaty!
Time, then, to announce the winner of the big one. Time to open the big golden envelope, and here are Jason and Laura Kenny to do it!
Time is short, and there is only one award still to present. First, though, a reminder of some of the sporting personalities we have lost this year. Here’s Geoff Hurst on one of them, Jimmy Greaves:
Next up is the coach of the year, and the expert panel voted unanimously to give the award to ... Gareth Southgate! “Gareth’s brilliant quality is more the man management,” says Bellingham. “The way he makes you feel as part of the squad. You always feel loved and you feel like there’s people in place to support you.” Southgate turns the humility dial up to 11 and says: “I’m very fortunate I work with good people and they make it a lot easier for me.”
The BBC Sports Personality Coach of the Year 2021 👏
— England (@England) December 19, 2021
Congratulations, Gareth! pic.twitter.com/wfBrNUynDv
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“I’m conscious the other teams won trophies,” admits Gareth Southgate, “but what appealed to people I think was that this team really pulled together through the whole summer and I think they represented the summer brilliantly on and off the pitch.”
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The team of the year is ... the England men’s football team! This is particularly good news for Jude Bellingham, whose journey now appears a bit more worthwhile.
Three gongs to go, starting with the team of the year which is coming right up.
“It’s unbelievable,” Rachel Blackmore says. “I really feel so many people at home voted or got someone in the UK to vote. The support has been incredible. I got such a kick out of being on that list of nominees. I only got to log on five minutes ago and ... Simone Biles just won an award! It’s overwhelming just to think that I’m getting an award next.”
The World Sport Star of the Year is announced and it is ... Rachel Blackmore! What are the odds?
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The Grand National-winning jockey Rachel Blackmore, who is wearing her Spoty frock and is apparently at Manchester airport, is interviewed over the interweb. It’s not clear what has stopped her from leaving Manchester airport and completing the 20-minute drive - probably not much longer on horseback, at least for her, to Salford Media City. “I feel privileged to have had the year I’ve had,” she says.
The Lifetime Achievement award is officially presented to Simone Biles. She’s only 24, so this seems a little bit much in the fast-forward world of gymnastics, but then again there doesn’t seem any point in needlessly waiting a few decades before giving it to her. She sends a recorded message, standing in front of a fireplace adorned with seven Christmas stockings, as yet unfilled. “I will keep on fighting for sport to be a safer place for young people to grow and flourish, and I will continue to speak out about mental health,” she promises.
The Unsung Hero Award goes to Sam Barlow, founder of Fitmums & Friends, who makes a fantastic astonished face when her name is read out. Fitmums’ website appears to have crashed.
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All the shortlisted athletes for the Emma Raducanu of the Year award have now been introduced, so the voting phone lines are open, and we now have 45 minutes of padding and filler while we wait for voted to be cast and counted.
Raheem Sterling, who played and scored for Manchester City in Newcastle this afternoon, hasn’t got back to the city in time to make it to Salford. But he did have a chat with Gary Lineker from St James’ Park:
The one thing that we do have as a collective, the belief within the team. We’ve got some players playing at the highest level. You could see against Germany, the belief that we had there, with everyone behind us. The environment that we have within the national team at the moment, each tournament we get better. The World Cup will be no different. We got to a final. We had people congratulating us but as a group we were disappointed. Now another opportunity, another time to get together and try to do the nation proud. We want to win it, and we’ll be ready.
Gareth Southgate is in the studio for a chat about Euro 2020:
An amazing journey. Of course you spend the months afterwards thinking about what might have been, then you reflect on the incredible job the players did. We took the whole country with us for a number of weeks. They did a brilliant job. We’ve got that nice moment as a team where we know we’re progressing. They’ve seen what’s possible and got close enough for that to fuel their hunger, but they haven’t got there yet. We’re in the mix [for next year’s World Cup], but we’ve got to be at our best. The competition’s really tight, but we can.
The Helen Rollason award, given each year “for outstanding achievement in the face of adversity”, is presented to Arsenal’s Jen Beattie, who has come through breast cancer over the last year.
Next up, Tom Daley. He has buttoned up his blouse since the red carpet.
I’ve never met him, but I do think he seems a genuinely exceptional character, must be an inspiration to many, and would be a deserving winner of tonight’s big prize. Here’s some of what he had to say:
To win the gold this year with Matty was a dream come true and something I thought was never going to happen to me. It’s been a long journey but it’s one I’m very proud of. Matty’s one of my best friends. It’s one of these amazing things, to go through the Olympic journey with someone else. I was a blubbering mess on the podium. I literally couldn’t even breathe. To be able to share that moment with one of your best friends is pretty special.
To be able to say that I’m a gay man who was able to compete in the Olympic Games and was comfortable to do that ... For me, I think there’s been so many inspiring people this year. Females in sport, Sky Brown for little kids, and for me and other LGBT sportspeople I think it’s really important we make sport inclusive to everyone.
Raducanu says 2022 “will be my first actual year on the tour”, a reminder of just how ludicrous her US Open win was. Further reading:
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Emma Raducanu, who is self-isolating in an Abu Dhabi hotel after testing positive for covid, joins us by videolink. She seems well.
It’s pretty surreal. I’ve always watched Sports Personality and just to be nominated is a real honour. I feel the same and everyone near me is definitely the same and keeping me in my place, 100%. Nothing’s really changed. My parents never make a big deal out of anything I do that’s good. They’ve been normal, nothing too big, nothing too low, that’s the way they’ve brought me up.
Tyson Fury is the first competitor for the evening’s main involved who is not present for the ceremony. Fury is of course a noted Spoty-sceptic: “It means nothing to me and I don’t need it or want it,” he said last year. “In fact, they will hear from my solicitors if they do put me on the list. Give it to someone who needs it. I don’t. We know who the sports personality of the year is anyway - it’s me. I am the sports personality.”
Jude Bellingham at least got to see his family, so that’s something.
Brown seems overcome. Bellingham seems to be wondering if he really had to travel all the way from Dortmund for a 30-second interview and an attempt to look dignified in defeat. The winner says:
I want to inspire the world, especially little girls, and teach them that skateboarding is for everyone. And I want to get two gold medals from Paris for Great Britain!
Matty Lee, who won gold with Tom Daley in the Olympic diving, announces the winner. And it’s Sky Brown!
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Award incoming! The three finalists for the Young Sportsperson of the Year award are in he stadio: Jude Bellingham of Borussia Dortmund and England, Paralympic swimmer Ellie Challis and13-year-old Olympic bronze medal-winning skateboarder Sky Brown.
Sarah Storey is next in. A genuinely brilliant athlete and mother - here’s what she says of her kids deciding what she should do in Tokyo:
We’ve always had them hugely involved with what I do. They come to all of my races, when we’re in the UK we’re in the motorhome, they help get things ready. They’ve been hugely involved. So when it came to that choice of whether I go for all three events or just the road race, they had to be involved. They didn’t realise how long I’d be away, but I’m never doing that again and I’ve made them that promise.
If you want to read more, Donald McRae interviewed her earlier this month:
Adam Peaty is, however, present in person. He has a chat with Gary Lineker and Gabby Logan, and very impressive he is too. Here he is on lockdown:
Probably one of the toughest moments of my life, which is why I get emotional seeing moments like [his Olympics success]. Getting to those lane ropes was almost closing a chapter. The investment of time, love, energy, sport takes everything from you and I give everything. It was so tough, so tough.
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With no in-studio audience, a number of sportspeople are virtually attending on a big Zoom-style screen thing. It’s not ideal, but it’s better than nothing.
Six minutes in, time for another video montage. This one’s an Olympic special.
The ceremony has officially begun, as it will (probably) end - with a slow-motion video montage. Quite a good one, I must admit.
Some early-evening reading:
The Emma Raducanu of the Year award is not the only honour on offer this evening. Tonight’s other awards are:
- Young Emma Raducanu of the Year
- Helen Rollason award
- Unsung Hero
- Lifetime Achievement (Simone Biles is getting this one)
- World Sport Star of the Year (shortlist: Saul Alvarez, Rachael Blackmore, Tom Brady, Novak Djokovic, Elaine Thompson-Herah, Max Verstappen)
- Team of the Year
- Coach of the Year
We kid, obviously. There are other contenders for the Emma Raducanu of the Year award, and they are:
Tom Daley
Tom Daley is nominated for completely Raducanuing the synchronised 10m platform diving, along side Matty Lee, at the Tokyo Olympics, before shedding hot, salty tears of joy at the medal ceremony. And also for knitting.
Tyson Fury
Tyson Fury Raducanued the WBC heavyweight title in Las Vegas in October by fighting Deontay Wilder for the third time and beating him for the second, twice clambering off the canvas before dropping his opponent in the 11th round.
Adam Peaty
Adam Peaty overcame a suspicious moustache to win two gold medals and a bonus silver at the Tokyo Olympics, continuing his ludicrous domination of the 100m breaststroke in the process.
Raheem Sterling
Raheem Sterling was one of England’s outstanding players as they reached the final of 2021’s Euro 2020, scoring three goals in the process, before the team lost on penalties to Italy at Wembley.
Sarah Storey
Storey expanded her ludicrously outsized collection of Paralympic gold medals to 17 - seventeen - with another three in Tokyo, and took her overall medal count to 28 in the process.
Are any of them more deserving of the award than Emma Raducanu? Time alone will tell!
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Hello world!
Greetings and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the BBC Emma Raducanu of the Year awards! Who could possibly win this hotly-contested prize? Let’s look at the shortlist:
Emma Raducanu of the Year contender No1: Emma Raducanu
Emma Raducanu became the first British woman to win a grand slam title since Virginia Wade in 1977, and the first qualifier, when she won the US Open in ludicrously classy style in September.
So, there’s your full list of contenders for the evening’s main prize. Who could possibly win? Don’t miss the next couple of hours of guaranteed uncertainty and drama!
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