Sports women of the Year Awards 2020
The Sunday Times Sports women of the year awards 2020 in association with Vitality winners have been announced:-
Jockey – Hollie Doyle named The Sunday Times Sports woman of the Year – In keeping with tradition, we will celebrate the elite sports woman of the year
Hollie Doyle is a record-breaking jockey. Hollie currently holds the record for the most wins for a woman in a flat season. in 2020 she became both the fastest woman to reach 50 wins in a season and the third woman in history to ride a winner at Royal Ascot. In August 2020 she was the first female jockey to ride five winners in a day, beating cumulative odds of 899-1 to make history at Windsor. Hollie is tipped to one day become the first women Champion Jockey.
Cycling – Dame Sarah Storey is Disability Sportswoman of the Year – Recognising the outstanding performer in disability sport
Dame Sarah Storey competed as a swimmer at four Paralympic Games before switching to cycling in 2005, and now has 14 Paralympic gold medals. Sarah is looking to competing in her eight Paralympic Games next year and could equal Mike Kenny’s British Paralympic medal record of 16 medals. At the 2020 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships – the 20th of her career – Sarah took her total across both sports up to 38 world titles and 60 medals overall.
Rugby player – Zainab Alema voted Vitality Grassroots Sportswoman of the Year – Those who have made an outstanding contribution to keeping women’s sport alive within their local community
Zainab Alema is a rugby player for Barnes RFC. She encourages black and Muslim women to follow her lead and take up rugby. She started playing the sport as a teenager and joined Barnes in 2017. Alema, who is a neonatal nurse for the NHS and mother of three. She recently started the Muslimah Rugby online community to try to connect Muslim women who play rugby, so that no one has to feel as isolated as she says she felt when she first started playing. In 2019, Alema founded Studs in the Mud, a project supporting grassroots rugby. Her fundraising efforts ensured new boots could be shipped over for dozens of players in Ghana and Morocco, where she joined in a training session with a team of Muslim women and supplied 25 new pairs of boots.
Sue Barker OBE received the talkSPORT Lifetime Achievement Award
Sue Barker is a popular English sports television presenter and former professional tennis player.
Football player – Layla Banaras handed the Young Inspiration Award – Focusing on the young talent of the future, who have continued to pursue their passion for sport
Layla Banaras is a 14-year-old footballer for Birmingham City FC under-16s.Banaras wants to inspire other young Muslim girls to take up the sport and hopes to one day become the first Muslim woman to play for England. Banaras was featured on the South Asian Heritage social media page, telling the story of how she fell in love with football. After training during Ramadan, Banaras realised there was no guidance in place for players who were playing while fasting. She is working to develop a healthy eating programme for Muslim footballers who want to train through Ramadan.
Fitness – Alice Liveing wins Influencer Award – Celebrates the influencers who have used their voice to inspire the nation during the lockdown period
Alice Liveing has 680,000 folowers on Instegram. During lockdown she ran regular livestream workouts for her followers in an effort to keep people active. Liveing, who is a qualified personal trainer, is also an ambassador for Women’s Aid and used her platform to speak about the rise in cases of domestic violence during lockdown. As a survivor of domestic violence herself, she raised awareness of the signs of an abusive relationship and shared helpline details.
Congratulations to all the winners, you are inspirational.