British Olympic Association may boycott BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards
The British Olympic Association may boycott the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year show this month because there are no women on the shortlist.
The Guardian reports today that is is understood that senior BOA officials are weighing up whether to snub the annual showcase on December 22.
According to The Guardian, this year's awards has "been overshadowed" by the controvery surrounding the lack of female athletes recognised by the ceremony.
“The BOA chief executive, Andy Hunt, was one of the most outspoken critics of the shortlist, compiled from the votes of 27 newspapers and magazines including lads' mags Zoo and Nuts, when it was announced," the paper reported.
"On Twitter, he said the list was ‘flawed’ and said it was ‘nuts that SPOTY have none of our outstanding women's world champions of 2011 on the nominations list."
“He added: ‘How can you have got this so wrong in not recognising the extraordinary achievements of women in sport’!"
The Guardian quotes a BOA spokesman as saying: "The Sports Personality of the Year is a prestigious honour and, typically, the BBC does a fantastic job recognising truly deserving sports men and women. This year, however, there were some glaring omissions from the list.
"Whether we attend this year is less important than what happens with the award in the future. To that end, we are encouraged to see that the BBC will review the process by which the finalists and winners are chosen in subsequent years."