BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award facts for kids

The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award is a special prize given out every December. It's part of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year show. This award celebrates a sportsperson who has made a huge difference in the world of sport throughout their life. BBC Sport chooses the winner each year. When football manager Alex Ferguson won in 2001, the BBC said it was a "new award" given every year. However, two people had already received it before him.

About the Award

How the Award Started

The first person to receive this award was Frank Bruno in 1996. He won it after he stopped boxing that year. The next year, Spanish golfer Seve Ballesteros won the award. After that, the award was not given for three years.

Since Alex Ferguson won in 2001, the award has been given out every year. Many winners have been connected to football. Tennis and golf are the only other sports with more than one winner. Martina Navratilova was the first woman to win the award in 2003. Seve Ballesteros is the only person to win the award more than once. He won in 1997 and again in 2009. His second award was for his amazing contributions to golf. He won "the Open three times, the Masters twice" and was a big inspiration in the Ryder Cup. The most recent winner, in 2024, was cyclist Mark Cavendish.

Who Has Won?

Winners by Year

Martina Navratilova, winner in 2003, was the first female to receive the award.

Pelé, the winner in 2005.

Sebastian Coe, the winner in 2012.

Michael Phelps, the 2016 winner, competed in four Olympic Games.

Jessica Ennis-Hill, the 2017 winner, was the first female winner since 2003.

BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award winners

Year	Nationality	Winner	Sport	Reason for winning	Ref.
1996	United Kingdom	Bruno, FrankFrank Bruno	Boxing	For his great career in boxing, including winning the WBC heavyweight title.
1997	Spain	Ballesteros, SeveSeve Ballesteros	Golf	For his amazing contributions to European golf over 20 years.
2001	United Kingdom	Ferguson, AlexAlex Ferguson	Football	For his managing career at Manchester United since 1986. He won seven league titles and an amazing treble of Premiership, FA Cup and European Cup.
2002	United Kingdom	Best, GeorgeGeorge Best	Football	For his football achievements. He was named "Footballer of the Year and European Player of the Year in 1968". He also won two championships and a European Cup with Manchester United.
2003	United States	Navratilova, MartinaMartina Navratilova	Tennis	For her tennis career that lasted 30 years. She won a record 167 singles titles and 329 trophies in total.
2004	United Kingdom	Botham, IanIan Botham	Cricket	For his contributions to cricket. He played 102 Tests for England in his 15-year career as an all-rounder (a player good at both batting and bowling). He took 383 wickets and scored 5,200 runs.
2005	Brazil	Pelé	Football	For his professional career where he scored 1,280 goals in 1,363 games. He played 92 times for Brazil, scoring 77 goals. He won three of the four World Cups he played in.
2006	Sweden	Borg, BjörnBjörn Borg	Tennis	For amazing the world of tennis in the 1970s and 1980s. He won 11 Grand Slam titles, including 5 Wimbledon championships.
2007	United Kingdom	Robson, BobbyBobby Robson	Football	For his contributions as both a player and manager in a career lasting over 50 years.
2008	United Kingdom	Charlton, BobbyBobby Charlton	Football	For helping England win the World Cup in 1966. He also led Manchester United to European Cup glory in 1968, scoring twice in the final.
2009	Spain	Ballesteros, SeveSeve Ballesteros	Golf	For his contributions to golf. He won "the Open three times, the Masters twice" and was an inspiring player in the Ryder Cup.
2010	United Kingdom	Beckham, DavidDavid Beckham	Football	For his playing career and his role in the London 2012 Olympic bid. He also played a key part in trying to bring the 2018 World Cup to England.
2011	United Kingdom	Redgrave, SteveSteve Redgrave	Rowing	For his huge contribution to rowing, his long and amazing career, and his ongoing work to promote sport in the UK.
2012	United Kingdom	Coe, SebastianSebastian Coe	Athletics	For his role in both London's bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic games, and for helping to organize them.
2014	United Kingdom	Hoy, ChrisChris Hoy	Cycling	For winning six Olympic gold medals, more than any other British sportsperson. He also won 11 golds at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships.
2015	United Kingdom	McCoy, APAP McCoy	Horse racing	For an amazing career in horse racing. He was Champion Jockey for every season of his 20-year professional career. He rode over 4,300 winners, including the Grand National.
2016	United States	Phelps, MichaelMichael Phelps	Swimming	For a career where he won 23 Olympic gold medals, 3 silver, and 2 bronze across 4 games. This includes a record-breaking eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
2017	United Kingdom	Ennis-Hill, JessicaJessica Ennis-Hill	Athletics	For being one of only 12 British women to win an Olympic gold medal in athletics. Ennis-Hill was the 2012 Olympic champion, a three-time world champion, and 2010 European champion.
2018	United States	King, Billie JeanBillie Jean King	Tennis	For changing how people saw women in sport after her historic win in the Battle of the Sexes. She also founded the Women's Tennis Association and the Women's Sports Foundation. She won 39 Grand Slam titles.
2019	United Kingdom	Grey-Thompson, TanniTanni Grey-Thompson	Para-athletics
2021	United States	Biles, SimoneSimone Biles	Gymnastics
2022	Jamaica	Bolt, UsainUsain Bolt	Athletics
2023	United Kingdom	Dalglish, KennyKenny Dalglish	Football
2024	United Kingdom	Cavendish, MarkMark Cavendish	Cycling	For a career that included a record 35 stage wins at the Tour de France over 16 years. He also won the road race at the world championships in 2011. He won the madison world championship three times in 2005, 2008, and 2016 on the track.

Winners by Country

Winners by nationality

Nationality	Number of wins
United Kingdom	15
United States	4
Spain	1
Brazil	1
Sweden	1
Jamaica	1

Winners by Sport

This table shows how many awards have been won by people from different sports.