BBC Wales Sports Personality Of The Year 2014 voting opens today
The voting for BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year 2014 will open today, Monday, December 1.
Published: 1 December 2014
The contenders for the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year award are:
Gareth Bale: Wales international footballer Gareth is acknowledged as one the world’s leading players. His goal in extra time beat off the challenge of rivals Atletico Madrid in the Champions League Final, and he also helped power Real Madrid to victory in the Copa del Rey.
Elinor Barker: With team golds in the World and European Track championships, plus the World Cup and the Great Britain event, the 20 year-old cyclist, a recent winner of the Carwyn James Junior Award, also rode to silver and bronze medals in the Commonwealth Games during the summer.
Jazz Carlin: Jazz became the first Welsh female swimming Commonwealth Games gold medallist for 40 years, and also collected a silver medal in Glasgow. Add two European Long Course gold medals earlier in the year, and 2014 has been a year to remember for her.
Manon Carpenter: In the space of just a few months, Manon achieved the remarkable double of winning the Mountain Biking Downhill World Cup and being gold medallist at the Mountain Bike Downhill World Championships.
Georgia Davies: Swimmer Georgia certainly had a successful Commonwealth Games in Glasgow – with the gold medal in the 50m backstroke following her silver in the 100m backstroke.
Jamie Donaldson: Golfer Jamie’s season was crowned by the shot that captured the Ryder Cup for Europe against the USA. Jamie’s consistency included winning the Czech Masters, and finishing fourth in the season-long Order of Merit on the European Tour.
Rachel James: Cyclist Rachel has enjoyed the best year of her career, piloting Sophie Thornhill to gold medals in the tandem kilo and tandem sprint events in the Para World Championships, and then also teamed up for gold in the British Championships.
Frankie Jones: For rhythmic gymnast Frankie the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow proved to be a golden end to her career. Wales’s flag bearer at the opening ceremony, Frankie amassed five silver medals before grabbing gold in the ribbon event. She was also judged to be the Games’ outstanding performer
Natalie Powell: Judo star Natalie claimed Commonwealth Games gold in Glasgow, defeating the tournament favourite in the Final, and went on to win a gold medal on the World Tour later in the year.
Geraint Thomas: Cyclist Geraint went straight from his highest-placed finish in the Tour de France to the Commonwealth Games, where he won a bronze in the Time Trial and then, remarkably, overcame a late puncture and a wheel change to claim gold in the Road Race
Public voting, by phone and text, is open from Monday, December 1 at 8am and closes on Saturday, December 6 at 6pm. Sports fans can visit bbc.co.uk/sportwales for full details on how to vote.
The winner will be announced at the Wales Sport Awards 2014 on Monday, December 8, at the Sport Wales National Centre in Cardiff. Wales Today on BBC One Wales and S4C's Newyddion 9 will have all the coverage and reaction.
The awards ceremony will be live on bbc.co.uk/sportwales and BBC iPlayer from 7.30pm with reports on BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio Wales. The ceremony will then be available on the Red Button from 10pm. The Wales Sport Awards 2014 event is a partnership between BBC Wales and Sport Wales bringing together a wide range of awards - including the Sport Wales Coach of the Year award and BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year award - into the main sporting showcase for Wales.Full details can be found here
#WSA2014
Issued by BBC Wales Communications
Sioned Gwyn
