Mo Farah wins BBC Sports Personality of the Year as Jonathan Rea finishes second
Updated 18/12/2017 at 07:14 GMT
Four-time Olympic champion Sir Mo Farah has been named as the BBC Sports Personality of the Year for the first time whilst Jonathan Rea finished second.
Farah, 34, had a stellar year as he won his third consecutive 10,000m gold at the World Athletics Championships in London and followed that up with silver in the 5,000m.
He ended his track career in style by winning the 5,000m at the Diamond League event in Zurich.
The 34-year-old, who ended his track career this year to concentrate on road running, looked stunned when he was awarded the trophy by his step-daughter Rihanna in a studio in London.
He was denied the chance to tell viewers how he felt as the BBC's live satellite link to the ceremony in Liverpool's Echo Arena cut out seconds later.
After the show went off air, Farah, appearing close to tears, spoke to those inside the arena saying he was shocked to win due to the quality of the other athletes.
It is pretty amazing and hard to think about. I didn’t imagine I was every going to win this but... anything can happen. If you work hard you can achieve your dreams.
World Superbikes champion Rea finished in second with T44 sprinter Jonnie Peacock in third.
Rea had an incredible year as he became the third man to win three World Superbikes title in a row.
He also set the record for the number of points secured in a title-winning season with 556.
The full list of voting showed just how close Rea was to winning whilst hugw favourite Joshua narrowly missed out on a podium finish.
BBC SPOTY Voting Breakdown
Athlete | Number of votes |
Mo Farah | 83,524 votes |
Jonathan Rea | 80,567 |
Jonnie Peacock | 73,429 |
Anthony Joshua | 73,411 |
Adam Peaty | 63,739 |
Lewis Hamilton | 60,627 |
Chris Froome | 47,683 |
Harry Kane | 18,759 |
Anya Shrubsole | 15,237 |
Bianca Walkden | 13,962 |
Johanna Konta | 7,591 |
Elise Christie | 6,504 |
Elsewhere during the evening Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill was given the Lifetime Achievement Award with Roger Federer taking the Overseas Sports Personality of the Year award for a record fourth time.
The Coaches of the Year were Benke Blomkvist, Stephen Maguire and Christian Malcolm who coached the successful Great Britain 4x100m relay team.
England’s successful women’s cricket World Cup winning side were named as the Team of the Year.
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