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SPOTY 2016

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Lineker

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BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2016: Meet the contenders

Andy Murray heads an expanded 16-strong shortlist for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, which is predictably dominated by Britain’s Olympic and Paralympic stars. But there is no place for the triple Tour de France winner Chris Froome or Sir Bradley Wiggins, whose exploits in Rio made him the most decorated British athlete in Olympic history.

Murray, the favourite to win a third award, will again miss the awards ceremony in Birmingham on 18 December because he will be in Miami preparing for the Australian Open. The BBC’s decision to increase the shortlist from 12 names to 16 means a record number of gold medal-winning Olympians will be in attendance, including the triathlete Alistair Brownlee, the husband and wife cyclists Jason and Laura Kenny, the boxer Nicola Adams and the athlete Mo Farah. The gymnast Max Whitlock, the GB hockey captain Kate Richardson-Walsh, the swimmer Adam Peaty and the showjumper Nick Skelton – who all also won gold medals in Rio – also make the list.

Paralympians are also well represented with Kadeena Cox, who won gold in cycling and athletics, the cyclist Dame Sarah Storey and the equestrian rider Sophie Christiansen all on the shortlist.

Only three names on the shortlist – the footballers Jamie Vardy and Gareth Bale and the Masters winner Danny Willett – are not Olympic or Paralympic gold medallists.

That means several big names miss out, including Froome, who won his third Tour de France title in July and Wiggins, whose successes in Rio have been overshadowed by questions about his use of therapeutic use exemptions before the 2011 and 2012 Tours de France and the 2013 Giro D’Italia.

They aren’t the only surprises, however. Alastair Cook, who became the first England batsman to pass 10,000 runs this summer, is also excluded along with Anthony Joshua, the charismatic Londoner who won a version of the world heavyweight title in January. None of England’s rugby union squad, who clinched their first Six Nations grand slam in 13 years and are now unbeaten in 13 matches, made the cut.

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DavidMarrio Hall Of Famer

DavidMarrio

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I thought Bisping may have had an outside chance of being nominated as the UK's first undisputed UFC champion and having defended the title.  

It's got to be Murray though realistically. Wouldn't be shocked if Vardy was in the top 3 though. 

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DFF Intercontinental Champion

DFF

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Murray has been otherworldly this year, and his achievements speak for themselves. 2nd and 3rd should be interesting though.

Team of the year... Women's hockey team, or maybe the Gymnastics / Cycling squads from the Olympics ?

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Gazz Hall Of Famer

Gazz

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I nominated my club's chairman for the Unsung Hero award because I'm a brown-noser and he's now in the final three of the regional award and the winner of that goes onto the national award.

 

 

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FestiveJack World Champion

FestiveJack

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10 minutes ago, Katsuya loves Oslo said:

It's an odd list. Certainly Bisping could be on there, dare I say Konta's had a great year too and probably should feature.

I'm sure the BBC is hyper aware of any controversial choices after the Tyson Fury thing last year, so that's probably why repeat homophobe Bisping isn't there.

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MDK Hall Of Famer

MDK

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6 hours ago, DFF said:

Murray has been otherworldly this year, and his achievements speak for themselves. 2nd and 3rd should be interesting though.

Team of the year... Women's hockey team, or maybe the Gymnastics / Cycling squads from the Olympics ?

He hadn't lost a set in something like 30-odd matches at one point. That is ridiculous. 

Team of the year has to be the hockey team or Leicester.

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Cymbols Intercontinental Champion

Cymbols

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Bit weird that Chris Froome and Maro Itoje aren't on there. Someone on Twitter reckoned it was because the BBC are too skint to pay to use footage of them at the ceremony (the cycling and England rugby largely being on Eurosport/Sky). Probably not true, but I'd put both of them above Vardy for certain. 

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Bobfoc Hall Of Famer

Bobfoc

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I actually predicted Froome's absence during a conversation with a colleague a few days ago, so I now feel smug. I assume the selectors were reticent to have as many as three able-bodied cyclists on the ballot, and I don't think he could have got in ahead of Jason Kenny and Laura Trott. I do think that he ought to have been a bigger contender than Jamie Vardy because, even though he played a big part in a feel-good underdog victory story, I don't think his achievements eclipse that of winning the biggest road cycling event in the world.

Whatever the reasons, it says a lot about the success of British sport this year that the absence of the Tour de France winner from the nominees list isn't a huge surprise. There have been several years in which the barrel has been scraped to compile a shortlist of ten, even during Olympic years, but this year's list has several nominees who could have won easily in years gone by.

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