Sport

Beckham receives television award

David Beckham was last night named 2001 BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

Mon Dec 10 2001 - 00:00

David Beckham was last night named 2001 BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

The Manchester United and England midfielder received the trophy in London from England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Beckham's brilliant stoppage-time free-kick, which secured a 2-2 draw against Greece and England's World Cup qualification, was hailed as the moment that sparked an avalanche of votes for the 26-year-old.

England captain Beckham beat Ellen MacArthur into second place, with Michael Owen finishing third in the 48th annual awards.

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Also shortlisted were Tim Henman, Lennox Lewis and Jonathan Edwards.

Around 10 million people are believed to have tuned in to the ceremony, one of the biggest audiences for a television show featuring sport, and viewers voted for the 2001 winner through a live phone poll.

Earlier this week Beckham picked up a similar award from the Sports Writers' Association. Ironically, it has not been such a great week for Beckham on the football front.

He was left out of United's team for their midweek 3-0 victory over Boavista in the Champions League, and again on Saturday as his team suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at home to West Ham in the Premiership.

England coach Eriksson said, however, that he will retain Beckham as captain for the 2002 World Cup finals.

"David Beckham will be captain in the World Cup, no doubt about it," Eriksson said. "As a captain I am very pleased with him. He is playing well and I have no reason to change it."

Eriksson insisted he was unconcerned about Beckham's recent absences from a United side which has suffered nine defeats in all competitions this season, saying it was 'normal' that international players are rested at some stage of the season.

Six other prizes were also handed out during the ceremony. They were:

Team of the year: Liverpool; Coach of the year: Sven-Goran Eriksson; Overseas personality of the year: Goran Ivanisevic; Lifetime achievement award; Alex Ferguson; BBC young sports personality of the year: Amy Spencer; Helen Rollason award (for courage and achievement in the face of adversity): Ellen MacArthur.