Andy Murray wins BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2016 but wife Kim votes for rival Nick Skelton to win broken trophy
Wimbledon champ beats off competition from show jumper Skelton and triathlete Alistair Brownlee to win a second consecutive Sports Personality of the Year
THE TROPHY WAS broken – and fixed with sticky tape – and his wife voted for someone else.
But nothing could spoil the night for Andy Murray as he made one final bit of history.
For the first time in 2016, the bookies called the result of a big vote correctly and hot favourite Murray became the first person to win the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award three times.
Britain’s first ever world No 1 in singles won twice as many votes as second-placed Alistair Brownlee and was even further ahead of Nick Skelton – despite wife Kim admitting she had supported the showjumper – on a glittering night to celebrate British sporting success.
Wimbledon and Olympic champion Murray joked: “I’ve got a bone to pick with my wife.
“She told me about an hour ago that she had voted for Nick Skelton.
“Not smart with Christmas coming up.
“Hopefully she voted for me as well but I don’t know how that works.”
The curse of Lennox Lewis struck again as the former heavyweight champion was given a chance to make amends after he and Murray had accidentally wrestled with the third-place trophy in 2012.
But this time it was not their fault, as the replica apparently arrived in Miami in less than mint condition.
Murray said: “It’s a bit broken. The top bit where the camera is, is stuck down with tape.
“They didn’t tell me how it got broken, but I was told it was broken and if I won I had to hold it close to my body so it doesn’t fall over on the camera.
“After the problems that me and Lennox the last time we did this, I listened to them.”
It was virtually the only thing in the last six months that had not gone smoothly for Murray.
He said: “It’s obviously been the best year of my career.
“Winning Wimbledon a second time after losing a lot of big finals was really important for my confidence, the Olympics was amazing again and to finish the year as World No1 was something I never expected to do.”
2016 was always going to be the best year of Murray’s life – in February he became a dad to daughter Sophia.
Nothing can match the unconditional love between parent and child, but the affection most of Britain now feels for their tennis star is unquestionable.
Back in 1997, Greg Rusedski won the BBC award after becoming the first British man to reach a Grand Slam final for 20 years.
It shows how far British tennis and British sport has come that Murray had to exceed even his previous achievements and those of the best ever list of candidates to claim the famous trophy.
Murray said: “It’s been an amazing year for British sport and I’m proud to be a part of it.”
Five-year-old Bradley Lowery, who has captured the hearts of the nation with his courageous fight against terminal neuroblastoma, was a special guest, having received his invitation on Friday.
Bradley could become the first child in the UK to undergo a pioneering cancer trial.
