BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award

The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> is an award given annually as part of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony each December. The award is given to a sportsperson "who has made a major impact on the world of sport during their lifetime". The winner is selected by BBC Sport.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> When football manager Alex Ferguson won the award in 2001, the BBC described the award as "a new accolade" to be presented annually;<ref name="Fergie"/> however, two people had already received the Lifetime Achievement Award.

History

The inaugural recipient of the award was Frank Bruno in 1996, who won it after his retirement from boxing that year.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Bruno was the favourite to win the main award in 1995, but lost to Damon Hill,<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Dead link</ref> causing many to criticise his Lifetime Achievement Award as being a consolation award.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link</ref> Spanish golfer Seve Ballesteros won the award the following year, but after that the award was not presented for three years. The award has been presented annually since Ferguson ended the hiatus in 2001. Five of the eleven recipients have been associated with football; tennis and golf are the only other sports to have been represented more than once. Tennis player Martina Navratilova was the first woman to have won the award. The only recipient of the award on multiple occasions is Ballesteros who won in 1997 and again in 2009, for his contribution to golf winning "the Open three times, the Masters twice as well as playing an inspirational role in the Ryder Cup".<ref name="Seve">Template:Cite news</ref> The most recent winner, in 2024, was cyclist Mark Cavendish.

Winners

By year

File:Navratilova crop.jpg

Martina Navratilova, winner in 2003, was the first female recipient of the award

File:Pelé 23092007.jpg

Pelé, the winner in 2005

File:Lord Coe - World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2012 cropped.jpg

Sebastian Coe, the winner in 2012

File:Michael Phelps Rio Olympics 2016.jpg

2016 winner Michael Phelps has competed in four Olympic Games

File:Jessica Ennis - Yorkshire.jpg

2017 recipient Jessica Ennis-Hill was the first female winner since 2003

BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award winners

Year	Nationality	Winner	Sport	Rationale	Template:Abbr
1996	Template:UK	Template:Sortname	Boxing	For his contributions to boxing which include winning the WBC heavyweight title.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link</ref>	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
1997	Template:Flagu	Template:Sortname	Golf	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link</ref>
2001	Template:UK	Template:Sortname	Football	For a managing career at Manchester United since 1986 which has won seven league titles and "claimed an unprecedented treble of Premiership, FA Cup and European Cup".<ref name="Fergie">Template:Cite news</ref>	<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref>
2002	Template:UK	Template:Sortname	Football	"In recognition of his footballing achievements", which include being named "Footballer of the Year and European Player of the Year in 1968", and winning two championship medals and a European Cup with Manchester United.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2003	Template:USA	Template:Sortname	Tennis	"For a trophy-laden tennis career spanning 30 years, (...) winning a record 167 singles titles and an astonishing 329 trophies overall, 140 ahead of her nearest rival."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2004	Template:UK	Template:Sortname	Cricket	"For services to cricket" where he played 102 Tests for England in his 15-year career as an all-rounder. During that time he took 383 wickets, which was the highest number for England until 2015 (currently third on the list) and scored 5,200 runs.<ref name="botham">Template:Cite news</ref>	<ref name="botham"/>
2005	Template:Flagu	Pelé	Football	For having a professional career in which "he scored 1,280 goals in 1,363 games" and "made 92 appearances for Brazil, scoring 77 goals" and winning three of the four World Cups he played in.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="bbc2005">Template:Cite news</ref>	<ref name="bbc2005"/>
2006	Template:Flagu	Template:Sortname	Tennis	For "dazzl[ing] the world of tennis in the 1970s and 1980s, winning 11 Grand Slam titles" including 5 Wimbledon championships.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref>
2007	Template:UK	Template:Sortname	Football	For "his contributions as both player and manager in a career spanning more than half a century"<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2008	Template:UK	Template:Sortname	Football	For achievements that include helping "England to World Cup success in 1966 and [leading] Manchester United to European Cup glory in 1968, scoring twice in the final".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2009	Template:Flagu	Template:Sortname	Golf	For his contributions to golf which include winning "the Open three times, the Masters twice (and) playing an inspirational role in the Ryder Cup".<ref name="Seve"/>	<ref name="Seve"/>
2010	Template:UK	Template:Sortname	Football	For his playing career as well as his roles in the London 2012 Olympic bid and his central role in attempting to bring the 2018 World Cup to England	<ref name=beckham>Template:Cite news</ref>
2011	Template:UK	Template:Sortname	Rowing	For "his huge contribution to rowing, his long and extraordinary career, and his ongoing commitment to promoting sport in the UK"	<ref name="redgrave">Template:Cite news</ref>
2012	Template:UK	Template:Sortname	Athletics	For his role in both London's bid for, and organisation of the hosting of, the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic games.	<ref name="CoeAward">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2014	Template:UK	Template:Sortname	Cycling	For winning six Olympic gold medals, more than any other British sportsperson in history, as well as 11 golds at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships.	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2015	Template:UK	Template:Sortname	Horse racing	For an unprecedented career in horse racing, being Champion Jockey for every season of his 20-year professional career and riding over 4,300 winners – including the Grand National, two Cheltenham Gold Cups, three Champion Hurdles and the Champion Chase.	<ref name="McCoyAward">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2016	Template:USA	Template:Sortname	Swimming	For a career in which he has won 23 Olympic gold medals, 3 silver medals and 2 bronzes across 4 games, including a record breaking eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.	<ref name="PhelpsAward">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2017	Template:UK	Template:Sortname	Athletics	For being one of only 12 British women to win an Olympic gold medal in athletics. Ennis-Hill is the 2012 Olympic champion, three-time world champion and 2010 European champion.	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2018	Template:USA	Template:Sortname	Tennis	For changing perceptions of what it meant to be a woman in sport following her historic victory in the Battle of the Sexes and for founding the Women's Tennis Association and the Women's Sports Foundation. Winner of 39 Grand Slam titles.	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2019	Template:UK	Template:Sortname	Para-athletics		<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2021	Template:USA	Template:Sortname	Gymnastics		<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2022	Template:Flagu	Template:Sortname	Athletics		<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2023	Template:UK	Template:Sortname	Football		<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2024	Template:UK	Template:Sortname	Cycling	For a career that included a record 35 stage wins at the Tour de France over a 16 year period, as well as winning the road race at the world championships in 2011 and winning the madisonworld championship three times in 2005, 2008 and 2016 on the track.	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

By nationality

Winners by nationality

Nationality	Number of wins
Template:UK	15
Template:Flagu	4
Template:Flagu	1
Template:Flagu	1
Template:Flagu	1
Template:Flagu	1

By sport

This table lists the total number of awards won by the winners sporting profession.

Winners by sport

Sporting profession	Number of wins
Football	6
Tennis	3
Athletics	3
Cycling	2
Boxing	1
Cricket	1
Golf	1
Gymnastics	1
Horse Racing	1
Rowing	1
Swimming	1

References

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