SPOTY – BBC Sports Personality of the year 2016 – RIO Edition

After a 2012 look at the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY). Here is my “analysis” of the likely 2016 winner based on my personal favourites and what I think the GB public will vote for.

Let’s narrow it down to individual and team Gold medal winners only. The likely winner will be a gold medallist.

• Liam Heath, gold (solo kayak 200m)
• Nicola Adams, gold (boxing)
• Mo Farah, gold (5,000m, athletics)
• Nick Skelton, gold (eventing, showjumping)
• Alistair Brownlee, gold (triathlon)
• Jade Jones, gold (taekwondo)
• Giles Scott, gold (sailing)
• Jason Kenny, gold (keirin, cycling)
• Laura Trott, gold (omnium, cycling)
• Charlotte Dujardin, gold (dressage)
• Justin Rose , gold (golf)
• Max Whitlock , gold (floor, gymnastics)
• Max Whitlock , gold (pommel horse, gymnastics)
• Jason Kenny, gold (individual sprint, cycling)
• Andy Murray, gold (tennis)
• Mo Farah , gold (10,000m, athletics)
• Joe Clarke , gold (K1, kayak)
• Adam Peaty , gold (100m breaststroke, swimming)

• Saskia Clark & Hannah Mills, gold (470 event, sailing)
• Jack Laugher & Chris Mears , gold (men’s synchronised 3m springboard, diving)
• Great Britain, gold (women’s hockey)
• Men’s eight , gold (rowing)
• Women’s team pursuit , gold (cycling)
• Helen Glover & Heather Stanning , gold (women’s coxless pair, rowing)
• Men’s coxless fours , gold (rowing)
• Men’s team pursuit , gold (cycling)
• Men’s team sprint , gold (cycling)

Before we narrow it down two quick awards

• Overseas Personality of the Year goes the USA’s Ryan Lochte for his medal haul and rectitude.
• On a more serious note, a Team won’t win SPOTY. The proper SPOTY team winners must surely be the Women’s Hockey Team, with a special mention for Maddie Hinch’s heroics in goal.

Back to SPOTY: Let’s eliminate the medallist or put them through to the next round

• Liam Heath, gold (solo kayak 200m) – minority sport, sorry
• Nicola Adams, gold (boxing) – She makes me smile whenever I see her interviewed. You’re through
• Mo Farah, gold (5,000m, athletics), (10,000m, athletics) – Obviously
• Nick Skelton, gold (eventing, showjumping) – minority sport, sorry
• Alistair Brownlee, gold (triathlon) – Title retainer, you’re through
• Jade Jones, gold (taekwondo) – Title retainer, you’re through
• Giles Scott, gold (sailing) – minority sport, sorry
• Jason Kenny, gold (keirin, cycling)(individual sprint, cycling)   – Obviosuly
• Laura Trott, gold (omnium, cycling)  – Obviosuly
• Charlotte Dujardin, gold (dressage)  – minority sport, sorry
• Justin Rose , gold (golf) – lots of people like golf
• Max Whitlock , gold (floor, gymnastics) (pommel horse, gymnastics)
• Andy Murray, gold (tennis) – too tennis for my liking
• Joe Clarke , gold (K1, kayak) – minority sport, sorry
• Adam Peaty , gold (100m breaststroke, swimming) – Top Scot, through

Leaving us with these who we now have to be harsh with

• Nicola Adams, gold (boxing) – If not put through she will beat you up. You’re through
• Mo Farah, gold (5,000m, athletics), (10,000m, athletics) – Obviously
• Alistair Brownlee, gold (triathlon) – I’m too biased towards tri to be fair. You’re out.
• Jade Jones, gold (taekwondo) – If not put through she will beat you up. You’re through
• Jason Kenny, gold (keirin, cycling)(individual sprint, cycling)  – You’ll get a knighthood, no SPOTY for you
• Laura Trott, gold (omnium, cycling)  – You’ll get a dame/knighthood, no SPOTY for you
• Justin Rose , gold (golf) – too golfy
• Max Whitlock , gold (floor, gymnastics) (pommel horse, gymnastics) – Unique achievement, You’re through
• Adam Peaty , gold (100m breaststroke, swimming) – not front crawl

Being even harsher

• Nicola Adams, gold (boxing) – Again, if not put through she will beat you up. You’re through
• Jade Jones, gold (taekwondo) – Again, if not put through she will beat you up. You’re through
• Mo Farah, gold (5,000m, athletics), (10,000m, athletics) – Obviously through but I’m pretty sure you can’t beat me up.
• Max Whitlock , gold (floor, gymnastics) (pommel horse, gymnastics) – too gymmy. Although just one of his biceps could easily knock me out. He seems too nice to get involved in a fight though. Phew!

So. We are down to Farah, Jones and Adams. Unless Mo buys this site for a huge sum (remember the5krunner.com 🙂 ) he can’t go thought as I am too biased towards his greatness. Which leaves me with two women who can both beat me up. AND I used to do martial arts for 10 years, which makes it even worse. Hard to choose I still reckon Karate is better than taekwondo. I could outrun Jade Jones, I’ll take my chance eliminating her.

Winner: Nicola Adams. Because she lights up Sports on TV.

Please feel free to comment. State your bias and kudos points for any funny reasons to eliminate gold medal winners. Further kudos points for selecting a better overseas SPOTY than Lochte.

Sorry for the ‘beat me up focus’. It just turned out that way once I started emptying my brain. Which is now empty. Good night.