| BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award | |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Presented by | BBC Sports Personality of the Year |
| First awarded | 1996 |
| Most recent winner | Kenny Dalglish (2023) |
The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award[1] 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.[2] When football manager Alex Ferguson won the award in 2001, the BBC described the award as "a new accolade" to be presented annually;[3] however, two people had already received the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The inaugural recipient of the award was Frank Bruno in 1996, who won it after his retirement from boxing that year.[4] Bruno was the favourite to win the main award in 1995, but lost to Damon Hill,[5] causing many to criticise his Lifetime Achievement Award as being a consolation award.[6][7][8] 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".[9] The most recent winner, in 2022, was Jamaican athlete Usain Bolt.
- ^ Haywad, Paul (11 January 2009). "Wayne Rooney is just like I was. So enthusiastic". Irish Independent. Independent News & Media. Archived from the original on 18 June 2009. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
- ^ "Sports Personality voting & judging: Terms & conditions". BBC Sport. BBC. 18 November 2008. Archived from the original on 17 December 2008. Retrieved 17 December 2008.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Fergiewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Gibbons, Alex (6 June 2004). "The highs and lows of Frank Bruno". The Observer. London: Guardian Media Group. Archived from the original on 21 October 2008. Retrieved 3 February 2009.
- ^ "Today's Number 1". The Independent. FindArticles. 5 September 1995. Retrieved 3 February 2009. [dead link]
- ^ "To be Frank, this is going down-Hill". Daily Record. 18 December 1996. Archived from the original on 2 November 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2009 – via HighBeam.com archive.
- ^ "Bruno backlash". The Sunday Telegraph. ]. 22 December 1996. Retrieved 3 February 2009.[dead link]
- ^ Walters, Mike (16 December 1996). "Ruddy great Damon". The Mirror.[dead link]
- ^ "Seve Ballesteros to get BBC Lifetime Achievement award". BBC Sport. 11 December 2009. Archived from the original on 14 December 2009. Retrieved 12 December 2009.