Yeah, the days of Seb Coe, Steve Ovett and Daley Thompson are sadly over, sad really as they are true achievers, takes an awful lot to be a top Athlete winning olympic/world goal medals. Admittedly myself I barely watch Athletics these days and barely know any of the athletes...used to love it back in the day and would watch every big meeting/games.
^This^ Seb Coe and Steve Ovett had some epic battles and then Steve Cram came on the scene and we watched some absolutely brilliant races knowing we'd win gold but not sure who would win it. Great days..
Tbf this year is poor but much if that is down to no major multi sports events. In the days when Coe, ovett and Thompson were around, we generally weren’t that good at sports and these guys got a lot of headlines. We’d win about 5 golds at an Olympics (1 in 96). We’ve won 20+ golds in rack of the last 3 Olympics, and could’ve had a couple of dozen athletes nominated on those Olympic years. We are an over achiever in sports now, much of it down to lottery funding since the late 90s. SPOTY will look and feel very different next year
One good thing about Earps winning, is that it appears to have upset twin turds Barton and Piers Morgan.
Is Earps winning really that far-fetched? She was England's best player in a extremely popular team which reached the World Cup final. It hasn't exactly been our finest year in sport. KJT may have gotten it if it had been an Olympic gold, the Athletics world championships have never really been as big in the public eye as the Olympics. Hopefully next years nominees will be full of Olympic gold medallists and Harry Kane after lifting the EUROS
Good comment. Stuart Broad was 2nd so obviously those who voted weren’t going for people who had actually won something. Hopefully you are right - loads of choices next year but then non football fans will probably moan if another footballer wins!
The short answer is that it wasn't far-fetched at all. Earps had been a long odds-on favourite with the bookmakers for some time and the lack of success at both the cricket and rugby world cups in the autumn probably sealed the deal for her. However, I don't think you can simply put KJT not winning down to her success being a world, rather than Olympic, gold medal. Six other athletes have won SPOTY in years when they became world champion but only Mo Farah has done so in the phone voting era since 1998. It is still by far the most successful sport in terms of winners in the award's history, but it is nowhere near as dominant now.
Such an inexpensive way to fill air time, and they could stick it on at any time and it would get viewers, and plenty of people watching on iPlayer.
Worth noting the year Farah won it was the year the World Championships were held in London so probably more focus were on it from casual viewers. I'm not saying I agree with the Worlds being held in a lesser status. A different sport but it has always annoyed me that the swimming worlds get next to no notice at all when we have Adam Peaty, one of our greatest athletes of all time barely getting recognised.
Even better would have been Prince Harry winning. Piers Morgan's head would have exploded when his blood pressure reached 2000/ 650. Was a time loved watching the show but not bothered in years. Couldn't even say who won it in recent years.
