You are here: Sport Quizzes - BBC Sports Personality of the Year




BBC Sports Personality of the Year


SPOTY Quiz I

  1. As of 2019, four people have won the award more than once - can you name them?
  2. Who is the only person to have won the main BBC Sports Personality of the Year award three times?
  3. Who was the first person born outside of the UK to win the "Sports Personality of the Year" award?
  4. In May 1954 Roger Bannister ran the first sub-4-minute mile with Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher being his pacemakers. Who in December 1954 won the first BBC Sports Personality of the Year award?


  5. In 2013 there was not an English sportsperson in the top three for the first time ever, which three took the top places that year?
  6. Which tennis player won the award in 1997?
  7. Who won it once, came second twice and third twice? (Hint: the win was in 1988)
  8. Who are the first non-individual winners of the main award?
  9. Can you name the first person to win the main award twice?
  10. Which winner of the title in 1974 also won an athletics gold medal in the European Championships in Rome a few months earlier?
  11. Who was the main host from 1983 to 1998?
  12. Who was the inaugural winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996?
  13. In 2011, who beat golfer Darren Clarke and long-distance runner Mo Farah to the award?
  14. Which record breaker came second in both 2001 and 2005? And was the first in her sport to be placed in the top three.
  15. In 1964, which winner was also the first British woman to win an Olympic gold for a track and field event?
  16. 1982's first and third place winners swapped positions in 1983 - who are they?

Answers:

  1. Andy Murray (3), Nigel Mansell (2), Henry Cooper (2), Damon Hill (2)
  2. Andy Murray
  3. Barry McGuigan
  4. Chris Chataway
  5. Andy Murray, Leigh Halfpenny, and Tony McCoy
  6. Greg Rusedski (Tim Henman came second)
  7. Steve Davis
  8. Torvill and Dean
  9. Henry Cooper
  10. Brendan Foster
  11. Des Lynam
  12. Frank Bruno
  13. Mark Cavendish
  14. Ellen MacArthur
  15. Mary Rand
  16. Steve Cram (first in 1983 and third in 1982) and Daley Thompson (first in 1982 and third in 1983)






SPOTY Quiz II

  1. In 1969, who was presented with a Manager of the Year award?
  2. Who became the first female winner of BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1962?
  3. As of 2020, there's been 18 first place winners from the sport of athletics, which sport has the second highest amount of first places: formula one, tennis, football or boxing?
  4. Who holds the record for most top three placements without a win; having finished second once and third three times?
  5. As of 2020, five footballers have won the main award, can you name them?
  6. There have been three female winner's this century, can you name them?
  7. In 1971, who beat sporting legends George Best and Barry John for first place?
  8. Who was voted Sports Personality of the Century in 1999?
  9. Who took home the main prize in 2019, beating Lewis Hamilton and sprinter Dina Asher-Smith?
  10. Who is the youngest winner of the main award? (Hint: he won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1958)
  11. Four boxers have won the main honour, can you name them?
  12. Which award introduced in 1999 is named after the former BBC sports presenter who died after a battle against cancer?
  13. As of 2020, can you name the last golfer to win the main award?
  14. Only a combined four snooker and darts players have featured in top three places, can you name them?
  15. Who once said: "Sports Personality of the Year' is such an iconic sort of programme, I remember when I was playing tennis, wherever I was in the world I would want to be back in Britain for Sports Personality of the Year"?
  16. In 1991, Bob Nudd received the most votes ever for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award but was denied victory by the BBC - what is Bob's sport?

Answers:

  1. Don Revie (Leeds United)
  2. Annita Lonsbrough (swimming)
  3. Formula One (7 first places)
  4. Jessica Ennis-Hill
  5. Bobby Moore, Paul Gascoigne, Michael Owen, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs
  6. Paula Radcliffe (2002), Kelly Holmes (2004), and Zara Phillips (2006)





  7. Princess Ann
  8. Muhammed Ali
  9. Ben Stokes
  10. Ian Black (swimming)
  11. Henry Cooper (1967), Barry McGuigan (1985), Lennox Lewis (1999) and Joe Calzaghe (2007)
  12. Helen Rollason Award
  13. Nick Faldo (1989)
  14. Steve Davis, Alex Higgins, Phil Taylor, and Stephen Hendry
  15. Sue Barker
  16. Angling or fishing (the BBC ruled that a campaign to vote for him in the fishing newspaper Angling Times was against competition rules)