BBC One

Sports Personality of the Year contender Eve Muirhead speaking on BBC One: "I’ve definitely been at my fair share [of Olympics]. I worked my way through Vancouver when I was just out of school and eventually managed to get on top of the podium in Beijing.

"To stand on that podium and win that Olympic gold medal finally was definitely a dream come true.

"On the back of qualifying for Beijing we did it the hard way and as an individual and a team I learnt so much about how to get myself back from failure.

"Before we knew it we were standing on the podium.

"It comes down to my team, they help me, I would like to think I help them too but without them I definitely wouldn’t be standing here today.

"I’ve retired form curling now and I’m just exploring different opportunities. I’m just enjoying life. I’ve got a lot more freedom. When you’re an athlete for so many years, it’s difficult to step away."

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There are three finalists in the running for Young Sports Personality of the Year, which will be the first award handed out this evening.

Skateboarder Sky Brown, gymnast Jessica Gadirova and diver Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix have made the shortlist.

Elizabeth Hudson
BBC Sport disability sport reporter

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The build-up to March’s Winter Paralympics in Beijing was overshadowed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a week before competition started. It led to uncertainty about Ukraine’s participation and eventually resulted in Russian and Belarus athletes being banned from competing by the International Paralympic Committee.

In the end, Ukraine finished a superb second behind China in the medal table but the whole delegation were the real heroes of the Games with emotional stories of harrowing journeys to Beijing, fears for family and friends left behind in the country and hopes that the country would be at peace again in the future.

Britain enjoyed a successful Games with six medals as visually-impaired skier Neil Simpson and his brother and guide Andrew became the first British men to win a gold medal on snow.

Menna Fitzpatrick became the most decorated British Paralympian in history thanks to her silver and bronze while Millie Knight also won a medal for the second consecutive Games and Ollie Hill claimed Britain’s first Para-snowboard medal.

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Competing at her fourth Winter Olympics, Eve Muirhead led the women’s team through a tricky round-robin stage before going on to clinch gold with a comprehensive win over Japan in the final.

A couple of months later, Muirhead and fellow Scot Bobby Lammie went unbeaten in claiming gold at the World Mixed Doubles Championship, which completed her set of major titles.

It proved the perfect way to round off an illustrious career, as she announced her retirement in the summer.

Yes, Eve Muirhead finally got her hands on curling's most coveted prize in Beijing, as the women's team won Great Britain's only gold medal at the Winter Olympics.

Sonia Oxley
BBC Sport

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Great Britain had to wait until the final day of the Winter Olympics in Beijing in February to win their sole gold medal when Eve Muirhead's women's curlers crushed Japan in the final.

That superb triumph and a silver in the men's event were GB's only medals in China, meaning they fell short of their target of three to seven medals in what UK Sport chief executive Sally Munday described as a "disappointing" Games for the team.

There were some near-misses for GB, with three top-six finishes coming in the men's four-man bobsleigh, the women's big air and snowboard cross team event, at an Olympics that took place amid tight Covid restrictions and which was overshadowed by the Kamila Valieva doping scandal.

We did not have long to wait for our first major event of the year, as the Beijing Winter Olympics took centre stage in February...

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Conor: The sporting highlight of the year for me has to be the Lionesses winning the Euros at Wembley, such an important landmark moment for Women's football in this country.

Don’t forget, if you plan to cast your vote online this evening rather than by phone, you'll need to sign in to your BBC account.

If you haven't already got one, just follow this link HERE to register - it doesn’t take long!

Once the vote opens later in the show, you can vote online HERE, by telephone or by scanning our new QR code displayed on screen during the show which will take you directly to the vote page.

That opening montage! Chills.

What a year of sport it has been. Get comfortable folks, we've got a big evening ahead...

BBC One

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It's time!

The 69th BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards show is about to begin right now over on BBC One.

You can also watch at the top of this page as we join Gary Lineker, Clare Balding, Alex Scott and Gabby Logan live in Salford.

Voting for Sports Personality of the Year opens later in the show.

Ryan: Looking forward to tonight’s BBC SPOTY, it’s always so amazing seeing those who truly deserve the awards be rewarded for what they bring to the sport.

Frank Keogh
BBC Sport

Sports Personality contender Beth Mead, who helped England’s women’s footballers win Euro 2022, arrived on crutches.

The Arsenal forward, who ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament last month, said she had an operation two weeks ago and “hopes” to be fit for next year’s World Cup.

“I’m likely to be out for six to nine months,” she said

Gymnast Jessica Gadirova, curler Eve Muirhead, athlete Jake Wightman, cricketer Ben Stokes and snooker player Ronnie O’Sulivan are the other nominees.

Georgi: Abby Dow's pitch length try in semis of Rugby World Cup, after recovering from a broken leg 6mths earlier- amazing as was the whole teams performance.

Paul Battison
BBC Sport MMA reporter

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It’s been an unprecedented year for British mixed martial arts with two world champions being crowned.

In August, Leon Edwards won the UFC welterweight title in dramatic circumstances, knocking the pound-for-pound number one Kamaru Usman out in the fifth round to become only the second British champion in the promotion’s history, after Michael Bisping in 2016.

Brendan Loughnane followed that success by winning PFL featherweight gold last month, stopping Bubba Jenkins in the fourth round to win a $1m (£840,000) prize and become the promotion’s first ever British champion.

Elsewhere, Paddy Pimblett has developed into one of the UFC’s biggest stars, while Molly McCann, Arnold Allen, Tom Aspinall, Fabian Edwards, Muhammad Mokaev and many more have had success they can build on further in 2023.

It’s an exciting time to be an MMA fan in Britain.

Frank Keogh
BBC Sport

UFC star Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett was looking typically relaxed as one of the early arrivals - he had to be coaxed into walking down the red carpet.

“I’ve had a good year. I was hoping to fight early in 2023 but I’m waiting for the results on an ankle injury which I will get on Thursday, he said.

Pimblett was injured as he outpointed Jared Gordon in Las Vegas earlier this month.

Janet: A real sporting highlight of the year for me has been the Para Rugby League World Cup. Quick, brutal and skilful. Tuned in to see what is was like and hooked forever. Loved all three aspects of Rugby League World Cup 2021.

Less than 15 minutes to go before we join Gary Lineker, Gabby Logan, Clare Balding and Alex Scott, who look ready and raring to go!

Sports Personality of the Year 2022 is almost here.

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"Tennis has treated me more generously than I ever would have dreamt, and now I must recognise when it is time to end my competitive career."

Tennis said farewell to Roger Federer, who hung up his racket aged 41.

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