Adlington: I should win BBC award, not Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton earned the nation's admiration and sporting adulation when he became Formula One's youngest ever champion last weekend. And his dramatic victory in the rain in Brazil apparently made him a racing certainty to be voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

But another young champion says Hamilton should not walk off with the prize at next month's award ceremony. Rebecca Adlington says an Olympic victor and not the F1 driver should win the prize. And the 19-year-old swimmer, who won two golds at this summer's games in Beijing, even suggested that she should take the accolade.

"I think that Chris Hoy, with his three cycling golds, or myself have better claims than Lewis. I'd like to see someone from our Olympics team win it. Olympics only come around every four years and it takes constant effort throughout that time to win. Lewis gets a shot at the world championship every year."

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Other arguments offered against a Hamilton victory are apparent anger over his decision to move to Switzerland for tax reasons and the debate over whether someone who drives a car can be considered a sportsman.

But in the eyes of bookmakers, the 23-year-old from Stevenage is sure to pick up the award which will be handed out on 14 December. He is a best-priced 1/2 with Coral, while the price on Adlington, the current second favourite, is as high as 3/1 with Bet365. Chris Hoy is 7/1 third favourite. More than £1m is set to be staked on the outcome of the vote.

Rupert Adams, a spokesman for the betting firm William Hill, said: "Adlington was the favourite at the end of the Olympics and it stayed that way until last Sunday. But as soon as Lewis crossed the line, he went to odds-on favourite straight away.

"From a bookmaker's point of view we think he is a stick-on to win it and it'll be a massive shock if he doesn't. But obviously we'd love it if one of the Olympians won it because all of the money is on Hamilton."

It is not the first time that the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award has caused controversy. In 2006, the comedian David Walliams was briefly installed as the bookmakers' favourite after his cross-Channel swim.

So does Lewis deserve it? Case for and against

Yes

David Tremayne, Motor Racing Correspondent

It would have been wrong last year for a beaten Hamilton to win it. But should he now win it, as the youngest-ever Formula One world champion? Perhaps I'm bound to say yes. True, he does not rely entirely on his own mind and body, as Olympic athletes do, but also on a machine and a team at McLaren and Mercedes-Benz. But he puts his life on the line every time he steps into his car to race wheel-to-wheel at 200mph. I see merit in Hamilton's demeanour and the manner in which he achieved his goal, and the skill, commitment, valour, humanity and dignity that make him a perfect role model.

No

Simon Turnbull, Athletics Correspondent

Lewis Hamilton would not be the first master of the motor racing circuit to eclipse a gold medal-winning hero or two in Olympic year. But it would be a gross injustice if the leading Olympians were to suffer the same fate. Considerable fitness is required in F1. But as much fitness as Rebecca Adlington gained from years of monastic pool work to become Britain's first two-time gold medal swimmer at an Olympic Games since 1908? No. Or as much as the punishing regime of pedal-pushing that propelled Chris Hoy to Britain's first hat-trick of Olympic golds since 1908? I think not.

Who will win BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2008?