The shortlist for BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality Of The Year 2009 has today, Monday 30 November, been announced on BBC Radio Wales’ Good Morning Wales and the BBC Radio Cymru Post Cyntaf programme – with six contenders nominated for the prestigious award.
The nominees are Becky Brewerton, Nathan Cleverly, Ryan Giggs, Louise Rickard, Jamie Roberts and Geraint Thomas.
The title will be decided by viewers’ votes with the winner announced live in a special ceremony from the Senedd with First Minister Rhodri Morgan on BBC Wales Today on Monday, December 7.
Coverage of the awards ceremony from the new Cardiff City Stadium can be seen in the BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality Of The Year 2009 programme presented by Jason Mohammad on BBC One Wales on Tuesday, December 8.
The awards will celebrate an exciting year of Welsh sport and will include interviews with many of our top stars and a look back at the highlights of the Welsh sporting calendar.
The Team Of The Year for 2009 will be unveiled in the programme along with the Carwyn James Award for the Junior Sports Personalities and the Unsung Hero award. The programme will culminate with the presentation of the BBC Wales Lifetime Achievement Award.
The contenders:
Becky Brewerton: another successful season on the Ladies European Tour for Welsh golf professional Becky from St Asaph, where she won the Spanish Open and was selected to play for Europe in the 2009 Solheim Cup. Becky is currently third on the European Tour standings.
Nathan Cleverly: Phillipstown, New Tredegar-born Nathan Cleverly is Welsh boxing’s brightest prospect at the moment. This year he managed to combine his career in the ring – where he is British and Commonwealth light-heavyweight champion, earning a crack at the European title next January – with studying for a mathematics degree at Cardiff University.
Ryan Giggs: another outstanding year for the evergreen 35-year-old football legend from Cardiff. Manchester United won the Barclays Premier League, the Carling Cup and were UEFA Champion League finalists, while Giggs himself won the PFA award and was nominated for European footballer of the year.
Louise Rickard: a year not to be forgotten for rugby winger Louise, being part of the Triple Crown winning team that beat England for the first time ever. She now has well over 100 international caps for Wales – more than any other Welsh rugby player.
Jamie Roberts: the Newport-born rugby Player of the Series for the British & Irish Lions on their summer tour of South Africa, Jamie was also part of the Cardiff Blues team that won the EDF Cup and reached the semi-finals of the Heineken Cup.
Geraint Thomas: it’s very much been a year of two halves for cyclist Geraint from Whitchurch in Cardiff. He received multiple injuries, including a fractured pelvis and broken nose when he fell in March. But in October, he proved he was back to full fitness when, in the World Cup in Manchester, he set the second fastest time ever in competition over 4,000 metres in qualifying, before winning that gold medal the following day. Geraint rounded off his successful World Cup by being a member of the team pursuit squad which set the second fastest time ever on their way to the gold medal.
The winner of the BBC Wales Sports Unsung Hero will go forward to the national BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2009 awards held at the Sheffield Arena on Sunday, December 13, where the overall UK winner will be chosen.
The presenter of the BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality Of The Year 2009 programme, BBC Wales sports presenter Jason Mohammad, says the awards are the highlight of his year. “I enjoy it so much because it’s a night where everybody gets together,” he said. “It’s a night where you see all the people that you’ve interviewed all year round, people you’ve watched perform on TV. And of course this is an opportunity for the public to tell us who they see as having had the greatest year in Welsh sport.”
You can vote for your BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality Of The Year by phone on the following numbers.
By phone, dial 0901 522 280 and finish with:
1 for BECKY BREWERTON
2 for NATHAN CLEVERLY
3 for Ryan Giggs
4 for LOUISE RICKARD
5 for JAMIE ROBERTS
6 for GERAINT THOMAS
Calls cost 15p from a BT landline. Mobiles and other networks may be higher. Lines are open from 08.00 to 20.00 each day, Monday, November 30 to Saturday, December 5 when they finally close at 20.00.
Further details on how to vote for your BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year can be found here: bbc.co.uk/wales or bbc.co.uk/cymru.
Wales Today, Monday, December 7, BBC One Wales, 6.30pm.
BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality Of The Year 2009, Tuesday 8 December BBC One Wales, 10.35pm.
