2016 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award


The 2016 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award took place on 18 December 2016 at the Genting Arena in Birmingham. It was the 63rd presentation of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award. Awarded annually by the British Broadcasting Corporation, the main award honours an individual's British sporting achievement over the past year, with the winner selected by public vote from a sixteen-person shortlist; the winner was Tennis player Andy Murray, who became the first person to win the award three times.
The event, broadcast live on BBC One, was hosted by Gary Lineker, Clare Balding and Gabby Logan.

Nominees

The nominees were revealed on 28 November 2016, during BBC One's The One Show. To reflect the vast success of the past year, a record 16 sportspeople were named on the shortlist.
NomineeSport2016 AchievementBBC profileVotes
Andy MurrayTennisWon his second singles Wimbledon title, reached the singles finals of both the Australian Open and French Open, defended his singles title at the Olympics, won the year-ending World Tour Finals and became the first ever Briton to top the computerised ATP singles rankings.247,419
Alistair BrownleeTriathlonWon a second successive Olympic title in the men's triathlon, thus becoming the first competitor in Olympic history to defend the triathlon title.121,665
Nick SkeltonEquestrianWon the Olympic individual show jumping competition at the age of 58, thus becoming the oldest champion in Olympic equestrian history and the oldest British Olympic champion in 108 years.109,197
Mo FarahAthleticsBecame the first athlete in 40 years to achieve the long distance "double-double" at the Olympics. Also became the first athlete to win nine global outdoor long-distance titles on the track, both consecutively and outright.54,476
Sophie ChristiansenEquestrianWon a clean sweep of three gold medals in para-dressage at the Paralympics, the second successive Games in which she achieved the feat.37,284
Kate Richardson-WalshHockeyCaptained the Great Britain team to a first ever gold medal in the women's Olympic field hockey tournament, winning every single match.34,604
Max WhitlockGymnasticsBecame the first ever British Olympic champion in gymnastics, winning two gold medals within two hours, as well as his country's first individual all-around medal in 108 years.32,858
Laura KennyCyclingWon two Olympic titles in track cycling ; in doing so, she became the first female British Olympian and only the second female Olympic cyclist to win four gold medals. Also won scratch and omnium gold at the UCI Track World Championships.31,781
Jamie VardyFootballHelped Leicester City win the Premier League title, having been given odds of 5,000/1 to do so at the beginning of the season.25,020
Jason KennyCyclingWon three Olympic titles in track cycling ; in doing so, he matched Sir Chris Hoy's hat-trick from 2008 and his records for the most gold medals won by a British Olympian and an Olympic cyclist. Also won sprint gold at the UCI Track World Championships.12,376
Adam PeatySwimmingWon the men's 100 metre breaststroke to become Great Britain's first male Olympic swimming champion since Adrian Moorhouse 28 years prior. Also part of the silver medal winning team in the 4 x 100 metres medley relay event, the country's highest finish in the event.11,129
Gareth BaleFootballWon the Champions League with Real Madrid and was part of the Wales team that reached the semi-finals of Euro 2016.10,786
Nicola AdamsBoxingSuccessfully defended her flyweight boxing title at the Olympics, thus becoming the first British boxer in 92 years to do so in any division. She also won flyweight gold in the AIBA Women's World Championships and achieved the career 'grand slam' of Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth titles.7,812
Kadeena CoxAthletics/CyclingBecame the first British Paralympian to win medals in two different sports at a single Games in 28 years, with one gold in cycling as well as a medal of each colour in athletics.5,574
Dame Sarah StoreyCyclingSuccessfully defended three Paralympic titles in cycling to become the most successful British Paralympian in the modern era, and the most successful British female Paralympian of all time.3,580
Danny WillettGolfWon the Masters Tournament, thus becoming only the second English golfer to achieve such a feat.2,227

Other awards

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