Has anybody ever won Sports Personality of the year three times

Not yet

Andy Murray now 1/5 to win.

There could be a couple of reasons for him not winning which i will post tomorrow along with another analysis of the present odds.

On the discussion of 2nd and 3rd i would go for Nick Skelton and Laura Trott for second and third.

You know what

I cant wait for your reasons why he wont win it when there a million reasons why he will win it

The fact you think a) Murray wont win, and b) Nick Skelton will come second, suggests to me that the forum can consider your opinion worthless once you finally get round to posting it

Are you Appledash in disguise?

What a charming reply


I dont think that Murray wont win, it is about the possibility of him not winning. Look at 2016, who you think is going to win often hasnt.

The forum can consider my opinion however it wants to, these forums are a collection of opinions and im just adding mine which everyone is welcome to disagree with.

Skelton is a personal opinion of who i want to be second and same with Laura Trott for third.

So the latest odds (SkyBet) are

Andy Murray 1/5
Alistair Brownlee 8/1
Laura Trott 10/1
Mo Farah 12/1
Gareth Bale 25/1
NIck Skelton 33/1
Anthony Joshua 50/1
Max Whitlock 50/1
Jason Kenny 66/1

Charlotte Dujardin, Chris Froome, Jack Laugher, Lewis Hamilton, Jamie Vardy and Nicola Adams all 100/1

Adam Peaty, Aled Davies, Bradley Wiggins, Carl Frampton, Dame Sarah Storey, Danny Willett, Ellie Simmonds, Gordon Reid, Johnnie Peacock, Jordanne Whiley, Lee Pearson and Michael Bisping all 150/1

Justin Rose and Maro Itoje 300/1
Mark Cavendish 400/1
Andrew Johnston and Tyson Fury 500/1

Changes from last time (13 October) include Anthony Joshua going from 5/1 out to 50/1 due to his fight with Wladimir Klitschko not happening this year. Alistair Brownlee has gone from 11/4 to 8/1 and for the first time Laura Trott has shorter odds than Mo Farah. Gareth Bale's odds have gone from 14/1 to 25/1 and Nick Skelton has gone from 25/1 to 33/1. Max Whitlock has also gone from 33/1 to 50/1.

Also Kadeena Cox has been removed from the list

The possibilities that Andy Murray wont win although it is unlikely are that firstly some viewers may not vote for him if he is in Miami and not at the ceremony, this can make some viewers feel that he isnt interested in the award and thus means that they vote for an alternative.

Another factor is that he is the favourite. There are voters who feel that he will just win it and that he will recieve enough votes so they will vote for an alternative. This has happened in the past, remember Jenson Button in 2009 coming second to Ryan Giggs even though he was the outright favourite.

As i have posted above remember that 2016 has brought in unlikely winners. Brexit, Donald Trump, Leicester City, Portugal in the Euros, Nick Skelton at the Olympics, Willett at the Masters among others. Just because Murray is expected to win the title doesn't necessarily mean that he will. 2016 is the year of the unexpected. He deserves it more than the others, yes. But will he definitely win it? It cant be a 100% certainty.

Why is the possibility of Andy Murray not winning SPOTY even being discussed? It's already in the bag, it's not going to be at all close.

He's become the first British singles player to be world number 1 since records began – I mean come on, he's the, or at the very least, one of the best sportsmen we've ever had. No chance of him not winning the thing!

What???!!

Why has she been removed from the list??

She hasnt been "removed" per se, clearly the bookie concerned (Skybet) just isnt publicly offering odds on her anymore, if you ask them to provide a price for anyone they will do so. Probably drifted too far out for them to bother including her on the site.

Coral are not offering odds through their mobile app on anyone over 250/1, for instance. Sure if you call into a shop or ring them they will price up anyone on request, if you are desperate to place a bet on Cox

Wasn't Murray at the show in person to collect the award last time?

Ok he wasn't in 2013 but whilst some will moan about him not being there others might think "well he is just doing exactly the same sort of routine that has made him become world Number One"

He was there last year, but it was the first time he had been there for a long time.

If they were using your number one argument then surely they would expect him to be there this year as he went there last year and has since become world number 1. So for others to think that it doesnt make much sense.

Pretty strange given she's a certainty to be nominated, especially with a much lower profile paralympian like Aled Davies at 150/1.

I'd say it reflects a bit more on how many people are placing bets, and on whom.

Not turning up on the night will impact on votes, as will being the favourite, especially if you are one who has won before. However, Murray won by an overwhelming majority in a year when he was absent and the favourite,

IMO, there will be a number of people who want to support the Olympians who aren't part of a big money sport that gets a lot of coverage. However, those votes will be spread out, and there isn't an obvious 2nd place. I'd argue it should be Mo, but he's seen in adverts and some people will assume he doesn't need the support either. He may not turn up either, and while he's always got a decent vote, he just doesn't get the same level of support. He'll be advantaged this year by being the only Olympic athlete (as in athletics) likely to make the cut and there will be a lot of people who think of athletics as being the purest and most universal part of the Olympics.

It is strange seeing as she won medals in both cycling and athletics, that deserves recognition in my eyes, how many other people can say that they have been a huge success in two very different sports, at the very highest level??
It is hard enough being a success in one!

It would have been fantastic if she was recognised. But it is looking less likely she will finish in the top three, which is a shame

He didn't do brilliantly at the start of the year though and he has said he wants to win more slams so if he thinks not attending the ceremony is important in relation to preparing for the Aus Open it's obvious he shoudn't go.


I agree with you but I don't know how well known she is.

Who cares if he is in Miami doing warm weather training instead of being at the awards there in person. The only way Andy got to this point of his career by being the Worlds number one tennis player is by doing this type of training and working hard. And if he has to miss the ceremony because of this then so be it

Yeah, the not attending argument might work for a few casual sports fans who think it's 'polite' to turn up, but a large part of Murray's appeal comes from the fact he has been prepared to put in the hard work, and to make the sacrifices necessary. Certainly it's one of the reasons he has been elevated above our footballers and most of the other wealthy sports stars who are considered 'pampered'.

Yeah I'm not buying the "not being there" argument either. Very few people are going to care about that, and as I still think he'll win by a country mile, losing a couple of votes for that reason won't make any difference. There are very few other British Sportsmen who have ever had a better year than Murray has this year, so for him not to win would be a travesty.

I'm considering making a YouTube video on this subject and I would like your second opinion. Who would you consider to be the least deserving winners of Sports Personality of the Year? Either because their achievement wasn't all that epic or because they robbed a more deserving contestant of the title?

Here are a couple of suggestions off the top of my head:
Chris Chataway- 1954 (getting the nod over Bannister who broke the 4 minute mile)
Princess Anne- 1971 (European eventing champion, but arguably helped by her Royal Status)
David Steele- 1975 (The best player of England's Ashes team that year, but it was still a losing effort)
Nigel Mansell- 1986 (Unlucky to lose the title in 1986, but worthy of surpassing Golden Boot winner Gary Lineker?)
Damon Hill- 1994 (Benefits from being in a weak field, but a lot of his win IMO was down to people being sorry for how he lost the 1994 title)
Greg Rusedski- 1997 (Arguably the weakest field ever, with Greg's biggest achievement being reaching the US Open Final)
David Beckham- 2001 (Is scoring one free kick more important then the heroics of Ellen McArthur?)
Zara Phillips- 2006 (See Princess Anne)
Ryan Giggs- 2009 (Had a weak season and robbed the far more deserving Jenson Button of the title).

You can only vote for the people who are there are the time, and there were many years when there was absolutely nothing going on in British sport at a world level, probably up until the lottery transformation began with the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

Also, up until the 1980s the Commonwealths were really important, second only to the Olympics in the 4 year cycle, though they might look trivial to us now.

I would add that the kind of people who will complain about him not being there are exactly the same sort of people who bleet on about a joke he made as a teenager and therefore were not going to vote for him anyway.

Most people are capable of understanding why sportspeople would priorities training over attending an award ceremony. It's also likely others on the shortlist may not attend for similar reasons.

Hmm, there have been a few controversial winners but in a lot of cases, the people you mention here won because they were the best option available. In a few cases you could see others who clearly had stronger claims, but not many. At the end of the day you can only beat the competition, and being the best in a weaker year does not an undeserving winner make.