2024 SJA British Sports Awards

Alex Yee, Keely Hodgkinson and the GB rowing team at the Paris Olympics were named Sportsman, Sportswoman and Team of the Year respectively as the SJA British Sports Awards 2024 were announced live on Sky Sports; other winners included Matt Peet, Tom Daley, Alice Tai and Baroness Sue Campbell…

Alex Yee and Darren Lewis

The Sportsman, Sportswoman and Team of the Year awards are voted for by the SJA membership.

In 2024, Alex Yee reached the pinnacle of his sport at the age of just 26.

He won Olympic individual triathlon gold in Paris and claimed the first world title of his career – and though he was up against some impressive challengers in the Sportsman of the Year category, that combination of success proved impossible for the others to match.

Yee’s achievement is such that a mural outside Brockley railway station in the area of Lewisham where he grew up was repainted in his honour for a second time.

After Tokyo, the artist added a gold medal, and after Paris, they switched it up again!

How fitting that his sport is multi-discipline because he’s inspired many people to get active in running, cycling and swimming, or all three.

He is the first triathlete to win one of the SJA’s top awards, with the sport only being added to the Olympic programme in 2000.

Going into the Olympics, there was enormous pressure on Keely Hodgkinson.

She had set the quickest 800m time of the year, retained her European title, broken the British record and become the sixth fastest woman in history over the distance – that brings with it such a weight of expectation.

But she did it, and how, winning gold in Paris for the first global title of her career and continuing Team GB’s proud middle-distance legacy.

The Sportswoman of the Year category was particularly competitive this year, with other Olympic title winners, Paralympic gold medalists and champions in other sports in contention.

But when it came to the crunch – just like in that thrilling race in the Stade de France in August – Hodgkinson pulled clear and crossed the line in first place.

The SJA Team of the Year for 2024 was a comeback story for Great Britain’s rowers.

Back in 2021, there was a lot of reflection and soul searching after a very disappointing return from the Tokyo Olympics.

No gold medals won at a Summer Games for the first time in 40 years, and just two appearances on podiums across the whole competition.

Fast forward to 2024, and what a turnaround. With the measure of golds won, this sport was Team GB’s biggest success in Paris and more than half of the entries medalled, making it the team’s best-ever haul from an Olympics overseas and a glorious regatta for GB.

The SJA British Sports Awards were first staged in 1949 and are the oldest sports awards in Britain. Sponsored by The National Lottery, the 2024 announcements were made live on Sky Sports News, in a change to tradition.

Darren Lewis gave his SJA President’s Award to Ollie Watkins, for producing a sporting moment that brought fans across England to their feet in jubilation – his late winning goal in the Euro 2024 semi-final against the Netherlands.

Watch interviews with winners Ollie Watkins, Luke Littler, Keely Hodgkinson, Alex Yee and more…

The Pat Besford Award for the outstanding performance of the year went to Tom Pidcock for his successful Olympic mountain bike title defence in Paris.

Coming back from Covid just a fortnight before, coming back from a fourth-lap puncture and messy wheel change, coming back with that daredevil undertake and surge towards gold – the SJA’s Committee members had no shortage of superlatives as they reflected on Tom’s tenacious performance, which will live long in the collective memory of Team GB.

🇬🇧🏆 Congratulations to Team GB’s Tom Pidcock whose Olympic mountain biking gold at #Paris2024 has also secured him an #SJA2024 Award! 🥇 Tom is the winner of the Pat Besford Award for Outstanding Performance of the Year 👏 Watch his Sky Sports interview on Insta 👉 www.instagram.com/reel/DClsy6F…

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— Sports Journalists’ Association (@sportsja.bsky.social) November 20, 2024 at 10:18 AM

The SJA Chair’s Award was won by Joe Root who is now, officially, the greatest batter this country has ever produced – the most Test runs for England, and the most Test centuries.

Root has been playing Test cricket for 12 years and in his own words, he plays “to create memories” – from his player-of-the-Ashes-series performances against Australia in that unforgettable summer of 2015, through his 10 career tons against India and more recently, three more 100s against the West Indies and Sri Lanka, he is a generational talent who keeps generating special sporting moments.

Long may that continue – for now, the SJA recognises all that he has given to the game thus far, not least his leadership and ambassadorial standing.

The National Lottery made its Spirit of Sport Award to Alice Tai, who won five medals at the Paris Paralympics.

In speaking so openly about her mental health struggles after winning gold at Rio 2016, her subsequent ADHD diagnosis, the low of missing Tokyo through injury, and her decision to undergo a leg amputation in 2022, Alice has allowed the British public to accompany her on her journey – educating, energising, and elevating conversations about disability and neurodiversity.

The award recognises how her candour and character have influenced her considerable achievements, and how her sheer determination will encourage others to drive on towards their dreams.

The SJA Bill McGowran Trophy for female and male para-athletes of the year was awarded to triathlete Dave Ellis and archer Jodie Grinham.

Both triumphed in ways that transcended the podium at the Paralympics. Ellis has been so dominant in para-triathlon in recent years, and his determination to consign his Tokyo misfortune to history by taking gold in Paris was a redemption story that we were all invested in.

Grinham won individual bronze and team gold in archery while seven months pregnant, a history-making feat that pierced outdated preconceptions about women in sport.

The recipient of the J.L. Manning Award for services to sport off the field was Tom Daley. The scale of his impact away from the diving pool makes him a unique standout, in so many ways.

He’s been in the public eye for most of his life, courageously leaping from great heights physically and metaphorically, and using his own platform to amplify marginalised voices from around the world, particularly those from LGBTQ+ communities.

He’s also helped to raise over a million pounds through a memorable Comic Relief challenge in 2022, and hundreds of thousands more for the Brain Tumour Charity and the Royal Life Saving Society.

What he’s also been able to do is educate people across the generations, and always with a smile and a positive attitude. An athlete advocate who has flown the flag for diversity in Britain, Daley is a worthy winner.

The SJA Commitee Award went to Matt Peet after his extraordinary achievement as head coach at Wigan Warriors.

Going into 2024, his team were the reigning league champions and there to be shot at – but they won all four trophies on offer to them, to achieve a stunning Grand Slam Quadruple, putting him in the equivalent bracket of a Pep Guardiola.

The Peter Wilson Trophy for breakthrough athletes of the year was won by Luke Littler (darts) and Poppy Maskill (swimming).

They are Gen Z teenagers with extraordinary A-games – and each has already attained elite status in their respective sports.

Littler had a big impact on Christmas and New Year viewing patterns, not just in the UK but worldwide too, helping to grow darts’ global profile via his run to the World Championship final and setting himself up for Premier League and World Series titles.

Maskill came away from her first Paralympic Games with three golds all won in different swimming strokes, plus two silvers, making her ParalympicsGB’s most decorated athlete in Paris, and securing her Closing Ceremony flagbearer honours too.

🎯 The #SJA2024 British Sports Awards continue with the announcements of our Breakthrough Athletes of the Year 💥 Congratulations to Premier League, World Series and Grand Slam darts champion Luke Littler and ParalympicsGB’s most successful athlete at #Paris2024, Poppy Maskill! 👏

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— Sports Journalists’ Association (@sportsja.bsky.social) November 20, 2024 at 4:06 PM

The Sky | Kick It Out Award for Equality and Inclusion, now named after the later Lord Ouseley, went to Baroness Campbell of Loughborough.

Kick It Out said: “Sue has made a massive difference to sport and, more recently, women’s football, by making it more equal and inclusive.

“In so many ways, she embodies the trailblazing sprit of Kick It Out founder Lord Herman Ouseley, and her legacy will be cherished by many women and girls for years to come.”

Six organisations shortlisted for the SJA Sport for Change Award, sponsored by Connect Sport and Altair Ltd

FULL LIST OF WINNERS

Sportsman of the Year: Alex Yee (triathlon)

Sportswoman of the Year: Keely Hodgkinson (athletics)

Team of the Year: Great Britain rowing at Paris Olympics

SJA Pat Besford Award for outstanding performance of the year: Tom Pidcock (mountain biking)

SJA President’s Award: Ollie Watkins (football)

SJA Committee Award: Matt Peet (rugby league)

J.L. Manning Award for services off the field of play: Tom Daley (diving)

SJA Bill McGowran Trophy for male and female para athlete of the year: Dave Ellis with Luke Pollard (para triathlon), and Jodie Grinham (para archery)

SJA Chairman’s Award: Joe Root

SJA Peter Wilson Trophy for breakthrough performance of the year: Luke Littler (darts) and Poppy Maskill (para swimming)

The National Lottery Spirit of Sport Award: Alice Tai

Sky | Kick It Out Award for Equality and Inclusion: Baroness Sue Campbell

For more content, visit our SJA British Sports Awards content hub