Following last night's deserved victory for Bradley Wiggins, here's six greats that somehow never got their hands on BBC Sports Personality of the Year...
6. Phil The Power Taylor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmi2KwmBnT4 Only true greats manage to dominate a sport; think Schumacher in his Ferrari, Manchester United in the Premier League, or Australia in the Ashes series of the nineties and early noughties. None of them, however, can come close to Phil The Power Taylors domination of world darts. With fifteen PDC World Championships to his name, thirteen World Matchplay Championships, and five Player of the Year awards, it is perhaps a travesty that Taylor is yet to win the ultimate peoples accolade (although winning Fans Player of the Year for the last five years running is probably some consolation). Taylor is likely to be consigned to the Lifetime Achievement Award sometime in the future rather than the showpiece trophy, especially after the uproar caused in Ryan Giggs 2009 win. Unfortunately for him, professional darts is considered something of a glorified pub game in the UK, despite the television exposure and the lively atmosphere at the venues. In the world of darts, however, Taylor is and always will be known as the greatest player in the sports history.
5. Beth Tweddle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKduPBB21Ho Had I suggested that one-time Team GB Taekwondo bronze medal winner Lutalo Muhammad deserved a SPOTY award, the entire British population would have scoffed, and pointed to our many golden greats; Sir Steve Redgrave, Denise Lewis, Paula Radcliffe the list goes on. However, the suggestion that one-time Team GB Gymnastics bronze medal winner Beth Tweddle deserves a SPOTY award seems to get a lot more consideration and deservedly so. Tweddle is the greatest British gymnast in our history. We first took her into our hearts in 2002 when she was just 17 after a gold and two silvers in the Commonwealth games. She was the first British gymnast to even win a medal in the Olympics, World Championships, and European Championships, and she did so in some style, with three golds in the Worlds and her six in the Europeans. She finally got her Olympic medal at London 2012, with a bronze on the uneven bars. Beth is also credited with massively improving the popularity of gymnastics in the UK, and doing so almost single-handedly. SPOTY has, however, been out of her 5ft 3in reach. She came closest in 2006, reaching third place. Her downfall sadly is the lack of exposure for the World and European Athletics Championships in the UK, coupled with unfortunate Olympic experiences; she finished fourth in Beijing 2008, and won her bronze in 2012 in the middle of Team GBs greatest ever Games. Having ruled herself out of Rio 2016, Tweddle is consigned to being one of the best-known Olympians to have never won a SPOTY award.