London: Andy Murray, the first British tennis player to win the Wimbledon in 77 years, was crowned the BBC Sports Personality of the Year here.
To nobody's s surprise, the favourite, thanks to his landmark victory against Novak Djokovic on that historic July afternoon on Centre Court, was rewarded with the famous old camera trophy.
According to 'The Telegraph', it was presented to him in Miami, where he had opted to stay and train, by Martina Navratilova while back at the awards show in Leeds, where last year's winner Sir Bradley Wiggins announced his victory, the news was also received with a rapturous salute from an audience of 12,000.
Surprise runner-up to Murray was Wales and Lions rugby star Leigh Halfpenny while champion jockey Tony McCoy finished third but, it always had looked a one-champion race as Murray's achievement, almost the last great peak of post-war sport left unclimbed by British sportsmen, felt too monumental to be challenged.
Even pitted against a field of monumental achievers in 2013, including a double world track champion Mo Farah, the Tour de France winner Chris Froome, the US Open golf champion Justin Rose, Murray's feat of emulating Fred Perry after a gap of 77 years, felt on a plateau of its own.
