Bradley Wiggins and Sir Chris Hoy in line for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year
Towards the end of every year, BBC announced a Sports Best Personality across Great Britain, after calculating their performances across the year.
Six-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Chris Hoy and the 2012 Tour de France overall winner Bradley Wiggins have been included in the 12-person list for this year’s award.
Hoy holds the honour of winning the Olympics gold for maximum number of six times along with a silver medal for Team Great Britain.
He claimed one gold medal during the 2004 Athens Olympics, three during the 2008 Beijing Olympics and two at the most recent 2012 London Olympics, while his silver medal came during the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
The 36-year-old also holds the honour of claiming the most number of gold medals ever by a Briton and has already stated that he will not be around for the next Olympics in Rio.
Mark Cavendish won the award last year after his superb performance throughout the 2011 season in which he earned five stages and the Tour de France green jersey.
The Manxman also won the 2011 UCI Road World Championships and was announced as the 2011 BBC Sports Personality of the Year in front of the full packed house.
Paralympian cyclist Sarah Storey won four gold medals in London and has also been nominated in the list of 12 athletes.
The President of British Cycling, Brian Cookson noted that Great Britain had a great cycling season which is the main reason besides the raise in the nominees list from 10 to 12.
"It's phenomenal news that three of our cyclists are up for the UK's most prized annual sporting award”, Brian cited.
“To be nominated for Sports Personality - especially after such a spectacular Olympic year for Team GB - is an amazing recognition of what has been achieved across our sport".
“Bradley Wiggins, our first winner of the Tour de France, Sir Chris Hoy, now Britain's most successful Olympian, and Sarah Storey - whose 11 Paralympic golds match Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson's record - all thoroughly deserve their place on the shortlist".
The competition is pretty tough this season, the two cyclist’s in question have both entered the history books, Hoy by winning the most golds, while Wiggins became the first British rider ever to claim an overall victory at the Tour de France and the announcement will be made in front of an expected crowd of 15,000 on December 16th, 2012.
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