Rebecca Adlington extends her lead over Lewis Hamilton

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Betfair odds: Adlington is in red, Hamilton in blue

The past week has seen Rebecca Adlington overtake and pull clear of Lewis Hamilton in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year betting, having previously been a distant second favourite.

The swimmer rather unsportingly claimed last month that she deserves the award more than Hamilton because he competes for the Formula One Drivers Championship every year whereas she only goes for Olympic gold once every four and judging by the odds shift, it appears the punters agree with her.

It could of course prove a good omen for Hamilton that he is no longer favourite because he was the clear frontrunner twelve months ago only to get pipped at the post by Joe Calzaghe.

Posted: December 10th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Sports Personality of the Year 2008: The Contenders

Hamilton enters as favourite for second successive year

Lewis Hamilton
The last two non-Olympians to win the trophy in a year where the Games took place were Britain’s last two Formula One champions: Nigel Mansell in 1992 and Damon Hill in 1996. There does however appear to be some resentment about his decision to switch Stevenage to Switzerland to dodge taxes and that may have dented his popularity slightly.

Rebecca Adlington
The nineteen-year-old from Mansfield became the most successful British swimmer in a hundred years by winning two gold medals in Beijing. However, the last woman to win an Olympic swimming gold - Anita Lonsbrough in 1960 - only came third in that year’s Sports Personality of the Year. She did win the award two years later though and remains the only female swimmer ever to have done so.

Chris Hoy
There have numerous occasions where this award has been won by the Brit who came closest to winning something so it speaks volumes for Britain’s sporting success this year that Hoy, the first Brit since Henry Taylor in 1908 to win three gold medals at one Olympic Games, is only third-favourite. The only cyclist to have previously won the award was Tom Simpson in 1965.

Posted: November 7th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | 2 Comments