The great cyclist Wiggo won the BBC’s sports personality of the year 2012, as the bookies and almost everyone else thought he would. There was never much doubt – when a man wins the Tour de France and a gold medal and has a wicked sense of humour he’s got to be a galloping favourite even in a stupendous year of sport like 2012. By the Bye Wiggins also won the Paris-Nice, Tour de Romandie and the Criterium this year. He is a worthy winner. What makes it more amazing is that last year’s winner was Mark Cavendish, another bike racer. When was the last time one sport produced two consecutive winners? It is time to announce that cycling has overtaken football, rugby and cricket and become England’s national sport.
How many of the population own a bike? Many more than own a cricket bat or javelin. BIke riding has managed to come from nowhere whilst simultaneously being one of the country’s greatest participation sports. We are a country of bike owners and like nothing better than to trundle along one of the many cycle routes that cover English cities and countryside. Bradley Wiggins has legitimised this hobby as sport. What was regarded as a form of exercise has suddenly become trendy. Thousands of Brits have discovered that for years they have been taking part in a sport, rather than the hobby they thought it was.
Wiggo has made cycling sexy and taken over the mantle of chief cycling cheerleader from Mark Cavendish. The Sports Personality of the Year award is voted by the public, a fact that Wiggins noted and says makes the award all the more special. The SPOTY programme started with a helicopter ride down the Thames, the presenters commenting on what had happened in the year. It seemed like it would be overblown and production-heavy, but it turned out that 2012’s sport was so impressive it could carry the weight of the even the most portentous approach the BBC could throw at it. Overall it was a great reminder of the best year of sport in recent memory – if Andy Murray only came third for winning a Grand Slam what sort of year of success must it have been.
If you missed the programme it is worth checking out the presentation of Andy Murray’s 3rd place trophy. He was poolside in America and Lennox Lewis was introduced to present the trophy – which was on a plinth between them. The camera cut to them and Lennox did nothing. At all. Murray picked the trophy up and presented it to himself. A comedy moment of note in a great evening’s celebration of sport.
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