Despite the heroics of the likes of Keri-Anne Payne, who was the first British athlete to qualify for the Olympics when she won the 10-kilometre open water gold at the World Championships in Shanghai last July, there was not a single female on the list.

Mark Cavendish, Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald, Mo Farah, Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Amir Khan, Dai Greene, Andy Murray and Darren Clarke were nominated by the panel of newspaper and magazine editors who voted.

Freestyle swimmer Rebecca Adlington, who won the 800 metres gold in Shanghai and Chrissie Wellington, the World Ironman Championship for the fourth time this year, could also feel hard done by at missing out.

"I'm really disappointed actually, there are so many fantastic female athletes out there," O'Connor told insidethegames.

O'Connor was part of the British rowing squad that finished top of the medal table at the World Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovenia this year, coxing the women's eight to a bronze medal.


She competed alongside double scullers Katherine Grainger (pictured left), a three-time Olympic silver medallist and six-time world champion, and Anna Watkins (right), who won gold in Bled to retain their world crown and could consider themselves also unlucky to have avoided recognition in the BBC shortlist.

"Katherine and Anna are twice world champions in women's double scull, they are amazing athletes and real gold medal hope for the Olympic Games," O'Connor continued.

"For me not having a single woman up there is really disappointing as we believe we have very strong female athletes."

O'Connor was also disappointed that there were no rowers in there, given that it is one of the sports in which Britain is expected to do best in at London 2012, having dominated in Slovenia this year.

"We have very strong rowers and there were none up there though we're a very successful sport," she said.

"You would say if all goes to plan and we get it right, then rowing could get quite a good medal haul out there [at the Olympics].

"We had a good [result in] Bled, we got a few gold medals and some of those rowers are Olympic gold medallists.

"It is a shame these people aren't being recognised as it's an important sport for our country.

"To see no female athletes up there is really, really disappointing I feel."


Berlin 2009 World Championship 800m bronze medallist Meadows (pictured second left), who also won bronze at the European Championships in Barcelona last year, was also surprised at the list and felt Wellington should have been in the running.

"I was quite shocked when I heard," she told insidethegames.

"I have watched the award since I was a young child and you have a dream that if you can win a World Championship or Olympics you might win sports personality of the year.

"I felt quite sorry for Chrissie Wellington, to win four Ironmans – not just once, but four times, to not get that recognition in your home country.

"It's phenomenal we have so many good athletes, but surely Chrissie should be on that list.

"I think it is a shame that they don't get that recognition – and I hope it gives sportswomen a massive boost to go out there in London next year.

"The only thing I can think of is that [the men nominated] are more of a household name and generate more headlines.

"If they appear in various media publications than others they have more recognition because of the name than what they achieved."

Meadows sounded a philosophical note when she said: "Twenty seven people vote for it and they didn't get the right amount.

"Those are the rules and they didn't get the votes."


Elena Baltacha (pictured), the British number one women's tennis player, was also disappointed at the absence of women from the list but was philosophical about the process, telling insidethegames:"It's one of these things where I think obviously the voters did not feel that a particular woman had achieved enough to get selected.

"I think in a way it is a shame because there have been a lot of females who have achieved.

"At the end of the day that is just the way it is.

"No one was selected – it is a shame because personally [I think] there are lots of females who have achieved amazing things this year but they haven't [been nominated] and that's the way it is – hopefully next year we'll be selected."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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