ALISTAIR BROWNLEE feels embarrassed by his nomination for Sports Personality of the Year.
The double Olympic triathlon champ is second favourite for this year’s BBC gong — but fears that is not just down to his success.
Brownlee, 28, defended his London 2012 title in Rio in the summer and is the first triathlete to be shortlisted for SPOTY since the awards began in 1954.
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But he said: “I’d like it to be recognition for sporting achievements over eight years — but I know what happened in Mexico made the difference.”
He is talking about scenes on the island of Cozumel in September’s final race of the World Series, when Brownlee sacrificed his chance of victory to look after stricken brother Jonny.
Jonny, 26, the Olympic silver medallist, was on course to win both the race AND the world title until he was hit by heat exhaustion just 1km out. Alistair stopped to help him finish and the footage went viral — making the duo an internet sensation.
Head of triathlon Marisol Casado said it “gave the sport a fantastic image round the world”.
But Alistair is not convinced ahead of the SPOTY awards night on December 18. He added: “We were both disappointed with how it turned out in Cozumel.
“Being held up as an example of sportsmanship and brotherly love is a great honour, but not really what I wanted.”
The brothers have been so busy since Cozumel they even turned down an invite to appear on The Ellen De Generes Show in the US.
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Alistair expects Andy Murray to win the BBC accolade for a record third time — but he has reservations over the nominations.
He said: “Chris Froome won the Tour de France a third time and is not on the shortlist.
“This is why the BBC calls it sports ‘personality.’ It moves the goalposts to something we cannot define — which is exactly why I’m the second favourite!”
Jonny added: “People struggle to warm to Froome’s personality but I really respect him. He says: ‘I’ll just train really hard and do what I need to win’. He should have been nominated.”
Brownlee is one of four nominees from Yorkshire including boxer Nicola Adams, golfer Danny Willett and Paralympic track and cycling star Kadeena Cox. But if he does miss out, it will at least save him having to talk about that incident in Cozumel yet again.
He adds: “People ask so much why I did it. I can try and explain it all I want but it’s a bit disingenuous. It was just a split-second decision.”
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