Britain's 50 Greatest Sports Personalities Of 2012

4. Laura Trott

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v63aShiALY Sport - Track Cycling The omnium is track cycling€™s equivalent to the heptathlon or decathlon in athletics, featuring six events, over both short and long distances, with a time trial, an elimination race and a 40km point€™s race amongst the contests between competitors. The event is therefore the ultimate test of a track cyclist€™s versatility and ability, and though Ed Clancy, a gold medalist in the men€™s team pursuit, managed a bronze in the men€™s event, twenty year old Laura Trott, who won her first gold in the women€™s team pursuit, succeeded in claiming the double in a narrow contest with American Sarah Hammer. Despite being asthmatic and having a stomach reflux that makes her violently ill after each race, Trott€™s victory in both of her events means that she is now the reigning World, European and Olympic champion, as well as the world champion in the under 23 class of the team pursuit, for which she remains eligible for another three years. Three years in which further accomplishments are all but certain as she continues to seem unbeatable in her areas of expertise.

3. Rory McIlroy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aeZk1esVqA Sport - Golf Britain has never exactly been short of excellent golfers, though the whirlwind success of Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy has given the word a whole new meaning. Having become the youngest player to ever win $10 million on the PGA Tour, McIlroy€™s crowning achievement in 2012 has been his victory at one of the sport€™s four major championships, the PGA Championship, in which he finished a total of eight shots below his nearest competitor, adding to his first major victory, the US Open, from 2011. In addition to also winning the European Tour Order Of Merit and the PGA Player Of The Year Award, McIlroy was part of the victorious European Ryder Cup team, his second appearance in the competition, at the €˜Miracle of Medinah€™ With golf set to appear at the 2016 Olympics, McIlroy too, could become a future British gold medalist, having expressed his interest in representing the UK, even though his status as a Northern Irishman means that, according to Olympic rules, he would be able to represent the Republic of Ireland instead if he chose to do so.
 
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Alex was about to write a short biography, but he got distracted by something shiny instead.