Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs crowned a memorable 2009 by being named the BBC Sports Personality of the Year on Sunday after topping a public vote.
Formula One world champion Jenson Button was runner-up in the poll and world heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis came third.
Wales international Giggs, 36, is the most decorated player in English soccer history and in May he won a record 11th Premier League winners’ medal.
He was only the fifth soccer player to win the award in its 55-year history and the first since his former Manchester United teammate David Beckham in 2001.
A visibly surprised Giggs, who received his award in front of an audience of 11,000 people at the Sheffield Arena in northern England, said: “It’s a shock, it’s a big shock.”
“As if I wasn’t nervous enough, my heroes Seb Coe and Michael Johnson are here,” said Giggs, who joined United as a 16-year-old trainee in 1990. “Honestly, this is unbelievable. I have been lucky enough to win a lot of things in my career, playing with great players and under the greatest manager [Sir Alex Ferguson] that ever lived, and playing for the greatest club.”
“This is up there with all of that. I grew up watching this TV program and to see all the people who have won it and to be up there with them, it’s unbelievable,” Giggs said. “For my children Liberty and Zach, you can stop watching and go to bed now — there’s school in the morning.”
The other soccer players to win the award were England’s World Cup-winning captain Bobby Moore (1966), Paul Gascoigne (1990) and Giggs’s current United colleague Michael Owen (1998).
The England men’s cricket team, currently on tour in South Africa, were named Team of the Year after beating Australia to regain the Ashes.
England national soccer team manager Fabio Capello was named Coach of the Year.
World champion diver Tom Daley, still only 15, won the Young Sports Personality of the Year award.
Jamaica’s Olympic champion, Usain Bolt, won the Overseas Sports Personality of the Year award for the second year in a row.
Bolt lowered his own world records in the 100m and 200m to 9.58 seconds and 19.19 seconds respectively at this year’s World Championships in Berlin.
Spanish golf great Severiano Ballesteros, the first European to win the US Masters title, received a lifetime achievement award.
Ballesteros, who is currently suffering with cancer, was unable to attend the awards ceremony and received his trophy at home in Pedrena, Spain, from fellow Spanish golfer Jose Maria Olazabal.
The BBC Sports Personality of the Year, which is restricted to British sportsmen and women, as is the team award, began in 1954 when then 5,000m world record holder Christopher Chataway was the inaugural winner.
‘AWFUL PERFORMANCE’: Golden State were always chasing the game after failing to threaten from long range, making just eight of 33 three-point attempts Aaron Gordon on Monday scored 38 points as the Denver Nuggets shrugged off the absence of Nikola Jokic to halt the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak with a 114-105 victory over their Western Conference rivals. A dazzling display from Gordon inspired what was ultimately a comfortable win for Denver, who were missing regular starters Jokic and Jamal Murray from their lineup. The absentees were barely felt by Denver, who startled the Warriors early at San Francisco’s Chase Center and led for most of the game. The Warriors threatened to stage a late rally after slashing the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter lead from 15 points
The US’ bid for a fourth consecutive CONCACAF Nations League title came to a stunning end as they fell 1-0 to Panama after a stoppage-time goal from Cecilio Waterman on Thursday in Inglewood, California. Despite dominating possession, the US struggled to break down a resilient Panama side for long periods. Panama spent the bulk of the match defending, but pounced on a giveaway by the US before substitute forward Waterman sent a shot from the right side of the area to the bottom left corner late in stoppage time. Up next for Panama in tomorrow’s final is to be Mexico, who beat
DOMINATION: McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris took the first two spots as Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen followed them Australian Oscar Piastri yesterday roared back from season-opening disappointment in his home race by winning the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix from pole position in a McLaren one-two with championship-leading teammate Lando Norris. George Russell finished third for Mercedes, ahead of Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Saturday’s sprint winner Lewis Hamilton fifth and sixth respectively. Piastri’s win denied Norris a third victory in a row, including last year’s Abu Dhabi season-ender, but left champions McLaren unbeaten in two races so far this year. “Mega job guys. The car was very, very lovely,” Piastri said
Armand Duplantis will be among the reigning Olympic champions adding star power to the world indoor championships this weekend when the Chinese city of Nanjing hosts the first major global athletics meet since the Paris Games last year. The three-day event was originally slated for 2020 and faced multiple postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Nanjing’s Sports Training Center would finally welcome more than 570 athletes for the start of the showpiece today. One of the main attractions would be pole vaulter “Mondo” Duplantis, who soared 6.27m to break the world record for a staggering 11th time in Clermont-Ferrand last
RSS