After airing his concerns about the astronomical cost of tickets to the Paris Olympics next year, Lord Sebastian Coe told the British media that he would vote for world heptathlon champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson for BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
The nominees for the award, aside from Johnson-Thompson, are Stuart Broad (cricketer), Frankie Dettori (jockey), Mary Earps (footballer), Alfie Hewett (wheelchair tennis player), and Rory McIlroy (golfer).
The BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2023 contenders!
🌟Stuart Broad
🌟Frankie Dettori
🌟Mary Earps
🌟Alfie Hewett
🌟Katarina Johnson-Thompson
🌟Rory McIlroy@BBCOne & @BBCiPlayer | Tues, 19 Dec 2023, 19:00 GMT. #BBCSPOTY pic.twitter.com/1JpHdqxO1G— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) December 15, 2023
Coe stated that, as the president of the World Athletics, he was going to vote for Johnson-Thompson because, in addition to staging an extraordinary comeback, she also won a global world championship.
Coe also added that although he did cast his vote for the heptathlon star, it shouldn’t be “remotely disparaging to anyone on the list.”
Coe: There’s room for both Johnson-Thompson and Kerr
Coe also took the opportunity to express his disappointment at the omission of Scotland’s middle-distance runner, Josh Kerr, from the shortlist. The president highlighted that both Johnson-Thompson and Kerr had won a world title in one of the most fiercely contested sports on the planet and that there was room on that list for both of them.
“Do I think there was room for both of them on that list? Of course I do,” Coe said.
On his X (previously Twitter) account last week, Coe criticized the BBC for failing to include Kerr, who had also had amazing success this year, in the shortlist.
No Josh Kerr on the list, are you having a laugh #SPOTY ? 🤔
World Champion in the biggest global sporting event of 2023. pic.twitter.com/9c1N9kkw3T
— Seb Coe (@sebcoe) December 12, 2023
Katarina Thompson-Johnson’s success
For a few years, the Liverpudlian heptathlon athlete experienced some of the darkest times in her career. Following her 2019 victories, Thompson-Johnson has sustained multiple injuries that could have ended her career. It started with an Achilles rupture at the end of 2020, followed by a calf tear during the 200m sprint at the Tokyo Olympics. Last year, the 30-year-old also experienced a decline in confidence after her poor eighth-place showing at the 2022 World Championships.
With all her injuries and losses, there was no telling if Thompson-Johnson was ever going to return to the podium again. But she put an end to all the doubts surrounding her abilities in August at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest as she bested the USA’s 2022 world bronze medalist Anna Hall (6720) and the Netherlands’ Olympic silver medalist Anouk Vetter’s (6501) efforts and recorded 6740 (season best).
Johnson-Thompson is now a double-world champion because of her latest feat.
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Cover Photo: IG