Off-topic chat. May contain offensive language or images.

Who should win?

Rebecca Adlington
4
24%
Ben Ainslie
No votes
0%
Joe Calzaghe
No votes
0%
Nicole Cooke
No votes
0%
Lewis Hamilton
8
47%
Chris Hoy
4
24%
Andy Murray
1
6%
Christine Ohuruogu
No votes
0%
Rebecca Romero
No votes
0%
Bradley Wiggins
No votes
0%
#367885
Simply - who should win? Except it's not that simple this year, there are so many deserving winners and to get it down to ten nominees must have been difficult. That said, I'd have liked to have seen Andy Murray replaced with perhaps Victoria Pendleton, Mark Cavendish or James DeGale.

For me, Formula One was the first sport I ever got interested in and I've loved it since I was a kid. What Lewis did was special and in such dramatic style, with the odds (or the stewards, as they're otherwise known) stacked against him - but he shouldn't win this. Not this year - although he may well do.

In my mind there are two people who stand out from the rest as being by far the most deserving nominations and therefore one of whom should win in my opinion - Becky Adlington was so unbelievably awesome in her two main races, with two totally contrasted golds - one with the most exciting of finishes, pipping Katie Hoff to the post by the slimmest of margins; the other beating her closest rival by six seconds I believe, and smashing the oldest world record in women's swimming by over two seconds. That is a worthy champion.

Hoy, on the other hand, with his three golds - an almost unprecedented achievement in British sport - is also extremely worthy of the award. But for me, Adlington just about pips him.

Then there are the other awards: team of the year must be the British cycling team, I'd have thought. Overseas personality I'd say Nadal, but then perhaps I would say that. I'd love to see Laura Robson get Young Personality - I don't see how anyone else deserves that more than her.
#367894
Team - British Olympic cyclists.
Young - Laura Robson.
Overall/main award - Chris Hoy
Manager - (I think they still do a manager of the year award) - don;t know, but whoever was in charge of the cyclists seems a good bet
Overseas - Michael Phelps or Usain Bolt probably.
#367895
The other close contender for the team would be the Yngling girls.

Any other year, Ben Ainslie would at least be in the top three, but I'm not so sure he'll even make that this year.
#368021
Got to be Hoy for me. For all I appreciate Lewis' achievement, Ecclestone's very quick suggestion of changing the score only highlighted he's not exactly a "winner" like his points total suggests. That, and the fact I remember Damon Hill and Nigel Mansell. Who remembers the last guy to win three Olympic Golds in one year? I'll give you a clue, it was about 100 years ago...

I do feel sorry for Bradley Wiggins though. Any other year he'd be a massive hero. At least Rebecca Adlington was in a different sport with her two!
#368077
Munki Bhoy wrote:For all I appreciate Lewis' achievement, Ecclestone's very quick suggestion of changing the score only highlighted he's not exactly a "winner" like his points total suggests.

Don't tell me you agree with his suggestion?! It's a nonsense. For someone to win the world championship without winning a race, they would have to be on the podium for pretty much every race - I don't see a problem with that, unlikely as it is. Had Lewis not had one of his wins taken away, he'd have had the most wins anyway.

That said, I still think Adlington should win it, but it's going to be Hoy or Lewis. I expect she'll come third.
#368089
I've only heard of three of them. Sport's not really my thing. I fail to see the point of this award. I'm sure there are those for whom such a thing is very important but not me.
#368092
Usually I'm not keen, but I do think it's interesting this year, given the high number of people who actually deserve to win it.
#368110
Andy B wrote:I've only heard of three of them. Sport's not really my thing. I fail to see the point of this award. I'm sure there are those for whom such a thing is very important but not me.

I don't think its important in any way - and I can't imagine anyone really does. But for people who are interested in sport, its - well, interesting. And fun. And a kind of celebration of what's gone before in the year. At least there's a bit to celebrate this year, there isn't always.
#368143
Topher wrote:
Munki Bhoy wrote:For all I appreciate Lewis' achievement, Ecclestone's very quick suggestion of changing the score only highlighted he's not exactly a "winner" like his points total suggests.

Don't tell me you agree with his suggestion?! It's a nonsense. For someone to win the world championship without winning a race, they would have to be on the podium for pretty much every race - I don't see a problem with that, unlikely as it is. Had Lewis not had one of his wins taken away, he'd have had the most wins anyway.


Not to the extent of his idea, no. But he does have a point, there's even less incentive to overtake than there used to be. They changed the points last time to stop Schumacher and I wasn't sure that was exactly a brilliant idea.

For all the moaning I've heard from Lewis' fans, I thought the FIA got it spot on every time. Including the win they took off him.

The current points system doesn't seem to fit anything. You want most wins, it was Massa. You want most consistent, it was Kubica. I'd put the points back the way they were personally.

Anyway, back to the topic, this was our best Olympics in 100 years. If the awards aren't swept by those that won in China it will be a travesty.

Mind you, that includes young Lewis...
#368185
Munki Bhoy wrote:Not to the extent of his idea, no. But he does have a point, there's even less incentive to overtake than there used to be. They changed the points last time to stop Schumacher and I wasn't sure that was exactly a brilliant idea.

To me there should be bigger points gaps between places. There was a suggestion on the 606 boards the other day that they have points most of the way through the field, which I actually thought was a very good idea. It gives the smaller teams something to race for, for a start.

Munki Bhoy wrote:For all the moaning I've heard from Lewis' fans, I thought the FIA got it spot on every time. Including the win they took off him.

I'd like to hear your arguments on this. Had they taken the win from Massa earlier on when they just slapped him with a fine instead, yeah, I'd have been content - I may not have agreed with either - but at least it would have been consistent and consistency is the key. When you have a man like Niki Lauda - who not only knows what he is * talking about in terms of F1, but also is historically a big Ferrari man - saying it's the worst decision in F1 history, you have to sit up and take notice. In addition, the appeal was thrown out on the technicality that you can't appeal stop-go penalties, which indicates to me that they thought they may struggle to come up with an argument had the appeal not been thrown out.

Munki Bhoy wrote:Anyway, back to the topic, this was our best Olympics in 100 years. If the awards aren't swept by those that won in China it will be a travesty.

Mind you, that includes young Lewis...

Indeed - Lewis should by rights be third at best though in my opinion and I am a big motor sport fan, though not as much as I used to be.
#368210
Yes, but in my opinion the Olympics competitors, in particular Becky Adlington and Chris Hoy, are more deserving this year. Hoy performed consistently well, as did Adlington and both won. Not to mention the fact, it has to be said, that they are both more worthy of the 'personality' aspect of it.
#368234
Topher wrote:
Munki Bhoy wrote:For all the moaning I've heard from Lewis' fans, I thought the FIA got it spot on every time. Including the win they took off him.

I'd like to hear your arguments on this. Had they taken the win from Massa earlier on when they just slapped him with a fine instead, yeah, I'd have been content - I may not have agreed with either - but at least it would have been consistent and consistency is the key. When you have a man like Niki Lauda - who not only knows what he is * talking about in terms of F1, but also is historically a big Ferrari man - saying it's the worst decision in F1 history, you have to sit up and take notice. In addition, the appeal was thrown out on the technicality that you can't appeal stop-go penalties, which indicates to me that they thought they may struggle to come up with an argument had the appeal not been thrown out.


Actually, my argument is fairly simple. I thought they were spot on with the decisions against Lewis. I thought they were ridiculously light with Massa. The lack of consistency annoys me. I do wonder if the FIA are just a Ferrari fan club at times.
#368250
Scottymeuk wrote:I think Chris should win this if he goes up the mountain haha.

See now thats an interesting one. When David Walliams swam the channel for charity, he got a special award at that year's Sports Personality do - maybe if they do it, next year the group doing the mountain climb will get something? Although it may be difficult to justify a sport award for walking up a big hill.
#369322
I still think Becky Adlington should have won it, but you couldn't begrudge either of them winning. I agree Lewis should have been third, if that.
#369328
Until I read that, I completely forgot I put a poll on this. I'm interested in who voted for Andy Murray and whether they're entirely sane.