Biles ‘honoured’ to pick up Lifetime Achievement Award

GYMNAST Simone Biles, the four-time Olympic champion, will pick up the BBC’s Lifetime Achievement Award at a subdued

Sports Personality of the Year ceremony this evening.

The 24-year-old American, the most decorated gymnast in history, shot to stardom in Rio five years ago, winning four Olympic golds, and was the star turn in Tokyo this summer where she added two more medals to her collection.

Biles, who will follow in the footsteps of the likes of Pele, Bjorn Borg and Ian Botham in picking up the prize during the BBC’s annual ceremony, called the honour ‘humbling’.

The award will be one of a number handed out at the Beeb’s glitzy bash which was postponed 12 months ago because of Covid and will be held this year in Salford in front of just a few invited guests.

Biles, who was recorded with her award in the United States, said: ‘When I see those names who have been honoured before me, I can hardly believe it.’

Biles was the box-office star of the Tokyo

Games but had a mixed competition, helping the US to team silver and adding bronze on the beam.

But she was also forced to withdraw from other events citing mental-health issues and won worldwide praise for her decision to go public on her problems.

‘This year wasn’t quite the year I was expecting as I had to take a step back from competition to recover from an invisible injury,’ she said. ‘This was the hardest decision of my life, but I chose to speak out to show mental-health struggles are nothing to be ashamed of.’

The 68th Sports Personality of the Year awards will be presented by Gary Lineker, Clare Balding, Gabby Logan and Alex Scott, with tennis sensation Emma Raducanu expected to win the main prize.

The 19-year-old, who won the US Open — just her second Grand Slam tournament — without even dropping a set, heads a six-strong shortlist. Raducanu, expected to become the first woman to win the award since Zara Phillips in 2006, is currently in quarantine in Abu Dhabi.

The main prize is decided by a public vote, with Raducanu hotly tipped to fend off rivals Tyson Fury, Adam Peaty, Tom Daley, Sarah

Storey and Raheem Sterling.