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.

Mo Farah of Great Britain celebrates his win during the Diamond League

Image credit: Getty Images

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.

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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.

Jonathan Rea celebrates breaking the points record for World Superbikes

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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