BBC Sports Personality Of The Year / Editor / 03 December 2008 / Leave a comment

The nominations for this year's Sport Personality of the Year award have been announced. But where is the value in the Betfair market?

An incredible 12 months for British Sport has yielded one of the strongest BBC Sports Personality of the Year shortlists in the award's history.

Last week, BBC Formula One commentator David Croft made the case in these pages for Lewis Hamilton to scoop the accolade and punters seem to agree - Hamilton is the current market favourite at [1.71].

As the US Presidential election demonstrated, Betfair markets are reliable indicators of voting patterns and, with Lewis leading the market by some distance, he seems to be a safe bet. But could it all go wrong for the man from Stevenage? Could defeat be snatched from the jaws of victory as it nearly was at the Brazilian Grand Prix?

Few question Hamilton's achievements on the track but voters may harbour reservations when they consider the "personality" part of the award because, while Lewis thrives in a world which judges a man's character by the depth of his bank account, the location of said coffers is a consistent cause of consternation.

Britain's most talented young sportsmen is a Swiss-based tax exile. Not good. Potentially vote costing. Mind you, Zara Phillips managed to win and she comes from a family with a very dubious history of tax paying.

Hamilton is perceived as surly in some quarters, as is fellow nominee Andy Murray. Despite finishing a great season ranked fourth thanks to five ATP wins and an appearance in the US Open final, the Scot is way out at [220.00].

British sports fans have no such scruples about Rebecca Adlington. Her two gold medals at the Beijing Olympics were the first won by a British female swimmer for nearly 50 years. A remarkable achievement and, despite being second favourite at [4.1], one senses that the girl from Mansfield is, in many ways, the popular choice.

Olympic medal winners dominate the shortlist with prices ranging from Chris Hoy's [6.4] to Rebecca Romero's [620.00]. The Hoy vote has been gathering momentum of late and may be worth a serious look as the December 14th annoucement of the 2008 BBC Sports Personality of the Year approaches.