Following the BBC's publication of the nominations made by the panel of sports editors from newspapers and magazines, Sue Tibballs (pictured), chief executive of the Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation, commented: "Having seen the make up of the SPOTY nominations panel, we're horrified to see Nuts and Zoo being asked to vote in what is an already male dominated panel.

"Neither put forward a single woman between them and if they weren't part of the panel, we believe that at least one woman would have made it into the top ten.

"We know that the British sports culture is very male dominated and women's sport struggles to get the profile and attention it deserves, but we also know British sports fans hold women's sport in high regard.

"The question is, does the panel reflect the views of sports fans – the public response today would suggest not.

"We applaud the BBC for being open about the judging process, however, we would ask them think again about Nuts and Zoo and include the likes of Sportsister, to ensure it has greater representation of women."

Danielle Sellwood, co-founder of women's sport magazine Sportsister, said:

"Sportsister was utterly shocked that there was not one single woman amongst the ten nominations for BBC Sports Personality Of The Year in a year that has seen some outstanding performances by female athletes.

"This just further highlights the lack of visibility in the media for our high performing sportswomen, but it also clearly raises questions regarding the nomination system.

"Those asked to nominate should be recognised and respected sports journalists who have an extensive knowledge of all sport.

"Through this we should achieve a balanced and impressive list of athletes from a broad mix of sports.

"On the eve of 2012, it's a real missed opportunity to shine the spotlight on some of the athletes we will be watching win medals in sports such as triathlon, swimming and rowing – all of which have current British world champions."


The list of nominations reveal  several mentions for world champion swimmers Rebecca Adlington (pictured right) and Keri-Anne Payne (left), as well as world rowing champion Katherine Grainger and Chrissie Wellington, who won the ironman triathlon world title for a fourth time.

But there were not enough mentions to get them on the list who will contest the top prize through a public vote which will be revealed on December 22.

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