<P> The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award is the main award of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony, which takes place each December . The winner is the sportsperson, judged by a public vote, to have achieved the most that year . The recipient must either be British or reside and play a significant amount of their sport in the United Kingdom . The winner is selected by a public - vote from a pre-determined shortlist . The most recent award winner is athlete Sir Mo Farah, who won in 2017 . </P> <P> Sports Personality of the Year was created by Paul Fox, who thought of the idea while he was editor of the magazine show Sportsview . The first award ceremony took place in 1954 as part of Sportsview, and was presented by Peter Dimmock . For the first show, votes were sent by postcard, and rules presented in a Radio Times article stipulated that nominations were restricted to athletes who had featured on the Sportsview programme since April . Approximately 14,500 votes were cast, and Christopher Chataway beat Roger Bannister to win the inaugural BBC Sportsview's Personality of the Year Award . </P> <P> Four people have won the award more than once: tennis player Andy Murray is the only person to have won the first place award three times (in addition to the Young Sports Personality and Team awards), while boxer Henry Cooper and Formula One drivers Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill have each won twice . Snooker player Steve Davis has finished in the top three a record five times . Jessica Ennis - Hill holds the record for most podiums without a win; having finished four times in the top three, after failing the make the shortlist for the 2016 award, having announced her retirement from athletics beforehand, Ennis - Hill is statistically the most successful sportsperson never to have won the award . In 2017 Ennis - Hill was awarded the Lifetime Achievement award . </P> <P> Princess Anne (1971) and her daughter Zara Phillips (2006) are the only award - winners to be members of the same family . The oldest recipient of the award is Dai Rees, who won in 1957 aged 44 . Ian Black, who won the following year, aged 17, is the youngest winner . Torvill and Dean, who won in 1984, are the only non-individual winners of the award, so in the 61 years of the award there have been 62 recipients . Of these 13 have been female . 17 sporting disciplines have been represented; athletics has the highest representation, with 17 recipients . Counting Torvill and Dean separately, there have been 48 English winners of the award, six Scottish, four Welsh, three Northern Irish, and one Manx . Since the award ceremony began only on one occasion (2013) have none of the podium placers been English . On three occasions a sportsman from outside the United Kingdom has made the podium, on each occasion for sporting success achieved in Great Britain; New Zealand speedway star Barry Briggs (1964 and 1966) and Italian jockey Frankie Dettori (1996). Barry McGuigan, Greg Rusedski and Lennox Lewis originally competed for Ireland (McGuigan) and Canada (Rusedski and Lewis) respectively, but had completed their transfer of allegiance to Great Britain by the time of their awards . </P>

Who has won the most sports personality of the year