I have acknowledged that.


See above


Good for you, but in the main people just aren't bothered past cheering them on just now for whatever reason they themselves are doing it.


Because they are, in the main, not high profile sporting stars other than in this next couple of weeks. There are many people who try hard, are dedicated and are worthy of things but they don't get them. That's life.


You are paying lip service to this if you think that ANY Paralympic athlete should win it and deserves it. That's like saying any footballer deserves it or any snooker player. That's exactly what I mean by the right-on cheering coming from some.

When you say people are not not bothered about cheering them on, are you not just taking what you think and extrapolating it further afield?
How have you come to that conclusion?

I am most definitely not paying lip service, if an athlete performs extremely well, why should it matter if they are able bodied or not?
If they have done very well, and won for example three gold medals is that not achievement worth celebrating?
Why should it matter if those medals were won in the Paralympics or the Olympics?
Success is success no matter which games they were won in.

I think the point being made is that the success of Olympians shouldn't require a repeated "don't forget the Paralympians" comment.

If someone wants to suggest Dame Sarah Storey for the shortlist its not likely we will have a big "Don't forget Laura Trott" thing, bottom line.

Equality only seems to be requested when discussing Olympians and not Paralympians.

I think both Laura Trott and Dame Sarah deserve to be on the shortlist, as do a fair few other athletes from both the Paralympics and Olympics.

Personally I don't think such is the very high standard that anyone who was not in Rio this summer at the Olympics or Paralympics should be on the shortlist, with only Leicester bucking the trend with the team award.

I agree , but you can't leave froome or kenny off the shortlist - 4 cyclist on the short list is gonna be crowded but each one equally a deserving champion , i think this part of the shortlist process will definitely be the hardest for the panel

Not remotely my point, but fair enough.

It is going g to be very very hard, perhaps the hardest shortlist of all time, and I sure as heck don't envy the people who are going to have to make it!

No matter who is on it, there will be plenty of calls for others not on it, just due to the size of the accomplishments thus summer.

Dare I say it , the short list requirement could be a double gold minimum for the Olympians , That would make the panels list easier to compile ? Just a thought .

So just Kenny, Whitlock, Farah and Trott then? That would be a short programme

Hang on, Dame Sarah has more chances to add to her single gold so far, so she could be in that list as well!

It clearly says Olympians !!! There still is a Wimbledon winner a masters winner a Tour de France winner a world champion boxer and so on ! Not so short programme .

The Tour de France winner is also an Olympian, and a bronze medal winning one at that!

I can see equestrians not making the short list , that will really make horsey fans angry just like last year when root and vardy was left off the list .

Double gold winning Olympians AND the individual sports winners IE Wimbledon / masters golf /Tour de France / world champion boxing / possible F1 champion - which part of this do you not get ?

I'll be surprised if they leave out Adam Peaty or Nick Skelton for a start. Then if the team award goes to Leicester they'll need a representative from the women's hockey team on the main shortlist. Nicola Adams and Ali Brownlee must be in the running too.

My god, I hadn't realised how many contenders there actually were before writing this post All I can say is good luck to whoever's putting that shortlist together!

I agree everything you say about Laura Trott. I think you misunderstand what I was saying.

The point is, that even when there is no outstanding female sportsperson, they still include one anyway. That is what I meant by 'token female' and is the reason I put the comment in brackets.... so that it would be clear it wasn't pertaining to Laura Trott). I guess you didn't quite pick up on that distinction.

After the fiasco of 2011 the BBC abolished the practice of selecting the winner by Borda Count anyway, and went over to selecting the winner entirely by public vote which is a much fairer practice.

You put Token Family in brackets for Laura Trott like you put ( assuming he wins the F1 title ) for Lewis Hamilton so certainly not clear it was meant in an ironic way. And you didn't put 'token female'.

Do you mean the nominees as I always thought it the was the public vote that decided the eventual winner?

You seem to have trouble reading. What I said was that most people aren't bothered about disabled sport much past cheering on the paralympics ever 4 years where they can say "ooh didn't they do well?" and feel much better about themselves and be proud of how inclusive they are being.



It doesn't matter but it doesn't make them sports personality of the year either. As for whether you are paying lip service or not, I have no idea, maybe you have been a keen spectator and champion of disabled sport for a long time or maybe you just do this every four years, only you know that!


Didn't say it wasn't. Still doesn't make them sports personality of the year. Its not handed out for effort and in most cases it doesn't go to minor events out of context.


Again I didn't say it wasn't success. I am saying it doesn't make a Paralympian sports personality of the year. You seem to be struggling a bit with what is a really simple thing.

You seem to have something in your mind over what does make a person worthy of being Sports Personality of the Year, if multiple gold medals doesn't make someone worthy enough, that what precisely does make someone good enough in your mind??

Why are you being so ridiculously pedantic? Is your whole world governed by some inability to see what someone might be trying to say but failing because they can't compete with your own ability to type as needed?

Dujardin wont be on the list but Skelton surely will. Just by being the oldest GB Gold medal winner for over 100 years basically means that he has to be shortlisted. Also his story is a dream for the shortlisters as well.

There is no set criteria obviously but just being a winning paralympian certain doesn't automatically qualify. Your post saying "it would be deserved if a paralympian won" sums it up. You didn't name the specific person, just that it was a paralympian. Tokenism at its finest. How very PC and inclusive of you. If you said it would be good if a black person won or a homosexual won you may better see how daft it is.

Im not saying they dont work hard or aren't dedicated or anything like that. Im also not saying that they are short of achievement. What i am saying is that a competitor taking part in a sport that the vast majority dont watch, competing at a standard that is almost impossible to put in context is likely to be championed for reasons other than sporting achievement.

I asked you do you think if someone won multiple gold medals would that be good enough to be on the shortlist?

I also said it would be deserved if a Paralympian won, just as it would if an Olympian won, quite where you getting up in arms and comparing that to me taking about blacks or whatnot I don't know.

It is nothing to do with "tokenism" at all, it is you that seems to have a hang up about a Paralympian possibly winning this main award, is there nothing at all that someone coming from these games could do to be worthy enough in your mind??

This is true BUT I can see Skelton not making the short list , I'm feeling that the panels job would be easier to pick multiple gold winners , I can see Pearson making the list instead of dujardin or Skelton if he wins a gold he would basically tick multiple boxes for the panel and would be a horsey friendly choice for the short list - if he wins a gold .