2011 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award


The 2011 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, presented on 22 December, was the 58th presentation of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards. Awarded annually by the British Broadcasting Corporation, the main titular award honours an individual's British sporting achievement over the past year, with the winner selected by public vote from a 10-person shortlist. Other awards presented include team, coach, and young personality of the year.

Award process

The shortlist of ten sportspeople, which was drawn up by "a range of sports experts from newspapers and magazines across the UK", was announced on 29 November 2011. The shortlist was widely criticised for its lack of any female competitors. On 14 December, the British Olympic Association said that they were considering a boycott of the award ceremony in protest. The BOA chief executive, Andy Hunt, said that he would have included swimmers Keri-Anne Payne and Rebecca Adlington, rower Katherine Grainger, and England women's cricket captain, Charlotte Edwards, in his top 10. The BBC said that it would review the nomination procedure for the 2012 awards.
The award ceremony was held on Thursday 22 December at the dock10 in Salford, and was broadcast live on BBC One. The winner, decided by a public telephone vote during the ceremony, was Mark Cavendish.

Nominees

The nominees and their achievements in 2011 as described by the BBC and their share of the votes cast were as follows:
NomineeSport2011 achievementBBC ProfileVotes
Mark CavendishCyclingBritain's first winner of the points classification in the Tour de France; also won the world road race, the first British male champion to do so for 46 years.169,152
Darren ClarkeGolfWon the 2011 Open Championship at the age of 42, becoming the oldest winner of the event since Roberto De Vicenzo in 1967.42,188
Mo FarahAthleticsWon a gold medal in the 5,000m and a silver medal in the 10,000m at the World Championships.29,780
Luke DonaldGolfWon the PGA Championship at Wentworth and became the world's number one golfer.23,854
Andy MurrayTennisWon five titles and reached third place in the world rankings.18,754
Andrew StraussCricketLed England to victory in the Ashes on the way to becoming the number one Test team in the world.17,994
Alastair CookCricketWon the Ashes in Australia, as the highest run scorer and whitewashed India, 4-0, to become the number one test nation.13,038
Rory McIlroyGolfBecame the youngest U.S. Open champion since 192311,915
Dai GreeneAthleticsWon a gold medal in the 400m hurdles at the World Championships.9,022
Amir KhanBoxingDefeated Zab Judah in the light-welterweight unification fight in Las Vegas.6,262

Other awards

In addition to the main award as "Sports Personality of the Year", several other awards were also announced: