2020 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award

BBC Sports Personality of the Year
Date20 December 2020
Locationdock10 studios, Salford
CountryUnited Kingdom
Presented byBBC
Hosted byGary Lineker
Clare Balding
Gabby Logan
Alex Scott
WinnerLewis Hamilton
WebsiteBBC Sports Personality
Television/radio coverage
Network
Runtime120 minutes
← 2019 · BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award · 2021 →

The BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2020 took place on 20 December 2020 at the dock10 studios in Salford.[1]

The event was broadcast live on BBC One and hosted by Gary Lineker, Clare Balding, Gabby Logan and Alex Scott.[2]

Nominees

The nominees for the award were revealed on 1 December 2020. On the night of the final, the public were allowed to vote for one of only six pre-selected contenders.[3]

Nominee Sport 2020 Achievement
Lewis Hamilton Formula 1 Surpassed Michael Schumacher as the most prolific Grand Prix winner and equalled his record of seven World Drivers' Championships to become the most successful F1 driver in history.
Jordan Henderson Football As captain, he led Liverpool to the club's first top-flight league title in 30 years. Also named the FWA Footballer of the Year.
Hollie Doyle Horse racing Became the first female jockey to ride five winners on the same British card with an 899/1 quintuple at Windsor Racecourse. Also claimed her first Royal Ascot win on Scarlet Dragon (at 33/1) and surpassed her own record of winners ridden by a British female jockey in a year (now 120).
Stuart Broad Cricket Helped England win the Test series against the West Indies and Pakistan, in which he was also the leading wicket taker. In the former, he became the fourth pace bowler (and seventh overall) to take 500 Test wickets and was player of the series.
Ronnie O'Sullivan Snooker Won the World Snooker Championship for the sixth time, the fourth player to do so in the modern era (post-1968) . This was his 37th ranking tournament victory, surpassing Stephen Hendry's previous record of 36.
Tyson Fury Boxing Became a world heavyweight champion for the second time by handing defending WBC champion Deontay Wilder the first defeat of his career, 14 months after their first bout ended in a draw.

Controversy

This year's Award was cornered by controversy, when the WBC World Heavyweight Champion, Tyson Fury, issued a video on social media politely requesting the BBC remove his name from the nominations for the award: 'This is a message for the @bbcsport and their SPOTY award. Please take me off your list as I'm the people's champion and have no need for verifications or any awards.'[4] The BBC ignored Fury's request. Fury then had his lawyers send the BBC an official letter repeating his request. The BBC did not remove Fury's name from the nominations. Fury requested his fans to respect his wishes and not to vote for him.[5]

Other awards

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

Performers

Artist Song Notes
Celeste "Stop This Flame" Opening performance
"Smile" In memoriam
Rick Astley "Every One of Us" Performed in recognition of the regional SPOTY winners

In Memoriam

The following people were remembered at the ceremony:[11]

References

  1. ^ "Sports Personality of the Year show to take place in December". BBC Sport. 13 October 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  2. ^ "BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2020 – as it happened". Guardian. 20 December 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  3. ^ "Sports Personality of the Year: Contenders revealed for 2020 BBC award". BBC Sport. 1 December 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  4. ^ "Tyson Fury Asks to be Removed from BBC Sports Personality of the Year Shortlist". The Independent. 3 December 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  5. ^ "Tyson Fury Sends Legal Letter to BBC to Have Himself Removed From Spoty 2020 Shortlist". The Independent. 15 December 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  6. ^ a b "Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp win Team and Coach of the Year at Sports Personality of the Year 2020". BBC Sport. 20 December 2020. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  7. ^ "BBC NAMES KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV WORLD SPORT STAR OF 2020". ufc. 19 December 2020.
  8. ^ "Young Sports Personality of the Year: Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix named 2020 award winner". BBC Sport. 10 December 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  9. ^ "Captain Sir Tom Moore wins Helen Rollason Award at Sports Personality of the Year 2020". BBC Sport. 12 December 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  10. ^ "Marcus Rashford given Expert Panel Special Award at Sports Personality of the Year 2020". bbc.com. 20 December 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  11. ^ "Sports Personality of the Year 2020: Remembering the stars we have lost". BBC Sport. 20 December 2020. Retrieved 16 May 2022.