The list features Olympic heroes, swimmer Rebecca Adlington, and cycling champions Nicole Cooke, Chris Hoy, Rebecca Romero and Bradley Wiggins.

 

Fellow Beijing winners, sailor Ben Ainslie and 400m gold medallist Christine Ohuruogu also make the list.

 

F1 champion Lewis Hamilton, boxer Joe Calzaghe and British tennis number one Andy Murray make up the 10.

 

These sporting celebrities will now compete for the public vote on the night of the live show which will be broadcast live at 1900 GMT, Sunday 14 December on BBC One.

 

The public will be able to vote for their BBC Sports Personality of the Year by telephone and details of the numbers to vote on will be given out during the programme which will be presented by Sue Barker, Gary Lineker and Jake Humphrey.

 

The live event will be held at Liverpool's Echo Arena for the first time and is a sell-out with around 9,000 people attending, making it the biggest Sports Personality ever.

 

The shortlist of 10 contenders was put together by a panel of 28 sports editors from national and regional newspapers and magazines.

 

Hmm. Could be quite interesting this year! Could be any one of Chris Hoy, Rebecca Adlington, Lewis Hamilton or Joe Calzaghe imo.

 

I want Lewis Hamilton to win but it'll be an Olympian I'm sure, probably Adlington!

It will be Lewis that wins! Surely he's favourite to win :unsure:

It will be Lewis that wins! Surely he's favourite to win :unsure:

 

He might be favourite but I can't see Murdoch Inc allowing that to happen. Rebecca Adlington will win, unless Chris Hoy gets the (Leon Jackson) Scottish national vote.

 

It is such a shame some years they'd better off doing a roll over for this award because this year those three definitely each deserve it for their sporting exploits compared to many former winners.

Lewis Hamilton to win! :cheer: Although it'll most probably be Rebecca Adlington.

I think Chris Hoy will win, but I would like Becky Adlington to win because she's nicer.

I really hope Lewis doesn't win - Anyone who watched the F1 this year will have seen he was far from an outstanding sportsman whilst many of the olympic team (esp. Chris Hoy) dominated their sports

 

I reckon Lewis will win however, the BBC will be wanting to promote the F1 ready for the start of next season so it'll be beneficial to them to hype up Lewis as much as possible

Rebecca Adlington FTW!! :cheer: :cheer:

 

It would be amazing to see a swimmer win this, swimming would be in the news between the Olympics and the Commies :w00t:

 

I swear to god if that bloody hamilton wins.....

I really hope Lewis doesn't win - Anyone who watched the F1 this year will have seen he was far from an outstanding sportsman whilst many of the olympic team (esp. Chris Hoy) dominated their sports

 

I reckon Lewis will win however, the BBC will be wanting to promote the F1 ready for the start of next season so it'll be beneficial to them to hype up Lewis as much as possible

 

:wacko:

 

Well seeing how he won in an inferior McLaren car compared to the Ferrari.

 

Historically the truest indicator of the fastest car has always been the fastest lap in a race:

 

Lewis Hamilton achieved that just once this season in the Chinese Grand Prix; whereas the superior Ferrari cars managed this 13 times (Kimi Raikkonen 10 times, Felipe Massa 3 times), but their greater inconsistencies (remember Traction control was abolished for this season) eventually gave the title to Lewis.

 

He also became the youngest ever World Champion in the 58 year history of the sport; winning in just his 2nd season the year after being the most successful rookie in his debut season in the history of F1.

 

Indeed one could argue his consistency over a season is of greater merit than peaking in performance for a one off event.

Lets be honest he wasn't the most consistent was he?

 

He f***ed up quite often this year. Plus, he only beat Alonso by a little bit on the age front. Both times he won with the slower car.

 

 

 

I'm still backing Becky, it's about time swimming got the coverage it deserves in this country. It is one of the most participated in sports in the country. Yet has absolutely no coverage in the press or on TV

UK journalists really are dumb collectively. Sports journalists from 28 newspapers and magazines across the country all voted for 10 people, the 10 people with the most nominations made the shortlist. Guess which well known British sportsman was equal 13th?!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://soccerlens.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/cristiano-ronaldo-entertainer.jpg

 

 

:lol: :manson:

Hamilton will p*** it even if he is the luckiest "champion" in history

 

Calzaghe deserves to retain his crown

Lewis may have been lucky with Glock at the end of the last race but it was still a massive achievement which he truly deserved! He's definitely shown himself to be the best driver managing to beat the Ferraris even when the FIA were deliberately trying to make sure they won. :D

 

LMAO! At Ronaldo being joint 13th! :lol:

Adlington FTW.

 

Seriously, how often do 19 year olds go to the Olympics for experience for the next one, and come back with two gold medals, breaking the world record in both of them? (And could have won a third gold medal if the swimming chiefs had a clue with the selection for the relay.)

^ Exactly.

 

Roll on 2012!!!

 

Maybe after we take a massive medal haul there the UK will start to take swimming seriously :rolleyes:

Is certainly the most open award for the best part of a few years.

 

I think Lewis Hamilton will win it personally. The way in which he won the title was something the British public will have loved, and while I think he's a great sports personality, I personally don't think he should win this year. Chris Hoy should win it imo. But in any case I think it'll be Hamilton, Hoy and Addlington in the Top 3, but in what order is a different question...

Swimmers and cyclists and so on should not be in the frame, by all means give Team GB the team award but I don't think that people from niche/minority sports should be up for the award, it it should be going to people from mainstream sports like football, F1, tennis, cricket, boxing and so on, if you are going to have niche sports then double figure darts world champion Phil Taylor should be winning the award every single year as he is statistically probably the most successful British sportsman in history but it would make a mockery of the award to give it to Taylor as darts is a niche sport likewise it should not go to cyclists, swimmers and so on

Swimmers and cyclists and so on should not be in the frame, by all means give Team GB the team award but I don't think that people from niche/minority sports should be up for the award, it it should be going to people from mainstream sports like football, F1, tennis, cricket, boxing and so on, if you are going to have niche sports then double figure darts world champion Phil Taylor should be winning the award every single year as he is statistically probably the most successful British sportsman in history but it would make a mockery of the award to give it to Taylor as darts is a niche sport likewise it should not go to cyclists, swimmers and so on

 

That would be the case normally, but the Olympic games is probably the worlds most talked about sporting event! :lol: (well, maybe behind the World Cup) so although their sports may be niche, the event which the won them at certainly wasn't.

...... if you are going to have niche sports then double figure darts world champion Phil Taylor should be winning the award every single year as he is statistically probably the most successful British sportsman in history but it would make a mockery of the award to give it to Taylor as darts is a niche sport likewise it should not go to cyclists, swimmers and so on

 

 

Now this is something I'm in complete agreement of, some people laugh because I rate Phil "The Power" Taylor the Greatest British sportsman of the past 20 years.

 

But when you consider how many people participate in Darts Leagues in the UK (832,000 in 2007), let alone the rest of the world. Yet this man from Stoke on Trent has been World Champion in 13 of the last 19 years (11 in 13 years).

 

He has also won a record nine World Matchplays, a record eight World Grand Prix, a record four Las Vegas Desert Classics, two UK Opens, all four Premier Leagues (remaining unbeaten for 44 matches during the first 3 tournaments), one World Series Of Darts title and both Grand Slam of Darts titles. Away from the television cameras, Taylor has claimed 28 PDC Pro Tour titles another record.

 

Taylor also holds numerous records for high scoring in darts, his three-dart average per match records are higher than anyone else in the history of the game. He has also achieved more televised nine-dart finishes than the rest of the darts profession put together and the most overall in major events.

 

Taylor is the first darts player to win more than £1 million in prize money which he achieved before the second professional passed £500,000 in prize money.

 

Little wonder that Robbie Williams who grew up across the road from "The Power" is not even the most famous resident of that street.

 

Try naming one other sportsman around the world who has been so dominant in a popular sporting occupation because I cannot.

 

Swimmers and cyclists and so on should not be in the frame, by all means give Team GB the team award but I don't think that people from niche/minority sports should be up for the award, it it should be going to people from mainstream sports like football, F1, tennis, cricket, boxing and so on, if you are going to have niche sports then double figure darts world champion Phil Taylor should be winning the award every single year as he is statistically probably the most successful British sportsman in history but it would make a mockery of the award to give it to Taylor as darts is a niche sport likewise it should not go to cyclists, swimmers and so on

Swimming is hardly a Niche/minority sport.

 

Just because BBC and ITV are too busy showing men running up and down a pitch after a ball to show it doesn't mean it's unpopular or not participated in.

 

Swimming is one of the most participated in sports in this country. FACT.

 

In fact for school age girls it's the most participated in sport and it's second behind football for boys of the same age.

 

 

Shockingly in fact it receives one of the lowest amount of money from the government all the sports councils (eg. SportScotland) yet this country wins a ridiculously high amount of medals at the olympics. In fact GB was 3rd in the swimming table

 

 

Just because you and the rest of this country are far to ignorant to notice the existence of swimming as a competitive sport outside of Olympic/commies years doesn't mean it's a niche sport. And nor does it mean the Becky is undeserving of her nomination