Square Mile Sport Awards - Vote Now!
The ICAP Sportsperson of the Year goes to the man or woman who, in the view of the City, has achieved the most in terms of sporting excellence over the course of 2008. Below are the 7 top athletes that have been nominated for this award.…
The winner was chosen from the 7 nominees below...
Lewis Hamilton, F1
Like their musical counterparts recording their next album, most sportsmen suffer from that difficult second season syndrome. Not so, the precocious Lewis Hamilton. You could be forgiven for thinking that, having missed out by a solitary point on winning the F1 World Championship title in his debut season, the disappointment would take a while to disappear. Not a chance. Hamilton was immediately into his running at the season-starting Australian Grand Prix winning from pole position on the grid. A driver who is always looking to overtake rivals given the opportunity, he leads the Championship heading into the final few Grand Prixs in search of his first title at the age of 23.
Ben Ainslie, Sailing
Described by International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge as a more impressive Olympian than US swimmer Michael Phelps – the man with more gold medals than any other athlete in the history of the Games, Ben Ainslie is happy to let his sailing do the talking. He arrived in Beijing as favourite but the changeable weather and high standard set by his rivals levelled the playing field. Consequently, winning gold on the difficult Chinese seas was a major feat in its own right but then it was his third consecutive Olympic title so what did we expect? The man is calmness personified. And now one of Britain's greatest ever Olympians.
Padraig Harrington, Golf
As a trained accountant Padraig Harrington will know exactly what to do with all the winnings he's accrued over the course of 2008. Going in to the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale with a wrist injury that left his participation highly doubtful in the week running up to the tournament, few gave him any chance of successfully defending the title he won in 2007. Through the wind and rain Harrington emerged at the top of the pile fighting off a rejuvenated Greg Norman to pick up his second Claret Jug. Nor was he finished there. Three weeks later in flew over the Atlantic and picked up another major title, becoming the first European to win the PGA Championship in 78 years.
Chris Hoy, Cycling
Team GB returned from Beijing from a whole truck load of medals but there was little doubt who the star of the show was. The Scotsman with legs like tree trunks never looked in any danger of losing when he took to the track, destroying the opposition to pick up three gold medals at the Olympic velodrome. In doing so he became the first Briton to win three medals in a single Olympic Games since 1908 and is the most successful male cyclist in Olympic history. The 'Real McHoy' has since had a velodrome named after him in Glasgow and is refusing to consider retirement targeting more medal success at London 2012.
Andy Murray, Tennis
The sulky Scot Andy Murray may not be everyone's cup of tea but in 2008 he proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is a phenomenal tennis player. This year has seen Murray clearly raise his game up a level and can now be counted as one of the world's best. This was proved to spectacular effect at the US Open at Flushing Meadow where he blazed a trail through to the final including the notable scalp of world number one Rafael Nadal – a match during which he displayed an unbelievable range of shots. Although he lost to Roger Federer, the now 4th ranked world player Murray is almost nailed on as a future Grand Slam winner.
Christine Ohuruogu, Athletics
Few athletes at the Beijing Olympics went through the kind of emotional journey that Christine Ohuruogu undertook on her way to winning the 400m gold medal. Having been banned from athletics for a year for missing three out-of-competition drugs tests in 2006, Ohuruogu has had to cope with continual question marks over the validity of her even competing at the Olympics. However, as strong in mind as she is in body, Ohuruogu laid down her marker with an astonishing late burst of speed in the home straight to overhaul pre-race favourite Sandy Richards and take the Olympic gold medal to add to her World Championships title won the previous year.
Rebecca Romero, Cycling
Winning an Olympic silver medal is tough enough. But to come back four years later in a completely different sport and go one better to take home a gold defies belief. In becoming only the second woman ever to win two Olympic medals in separate sports and the first Briton to do so, Rebecca Romero changed history – riding to a cycling gold medal in the individual pursuit to add to her silver won in the quadruple sculls rowing in Athens 2004. And all this with a persistent back injury that forced her retirement from the latter sport. Clearly nothing holds any fear for Romero, not even posing nude on her bicycle for a Powerade advert prior to the Beijing Games.