Hodgkinson beats Littler to prestigious BBC sports award after winning Olympic 800-meter gold

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Keely Hodgkinson smiles after receiving the award for BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2024 during the 2024 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards in Salford, England, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (David Davies/PA via AP)

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Luke Littler, right, smiles as Keely Hodgkinson, left, receives the award for BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2024 during the 2024 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards in Salford, England, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (David Davies/PA via AP)

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Track and filed athlete Keely Hodgkinson arrives for the 2024 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards in Salford, England, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (Martin Rickett/PA via AP)

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Track and field athlete Keely Hodgkinson arrives for the 2024 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards in Salford, England, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (Martin Rickett/PA via AP)

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Luke Littler, right, receives the young Sports Personality of the Year 2024 award from Alex Scott, left, during the 2024 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards in Salford, England, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (David Davies/PA via AP)

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Darts player Luke Littler arrives for the 2024 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards in Salford, England, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (Martin Rickett/PA via AP)

SALFORD, England (AP) — Keely Hodgkinson was voted as the BBC Sports Personality of the Year for 2024 on Tuesday after winning the 800 meters at the Olympic Games in Paris.

It is the fourth straight year that the award has been won by a woman, following soccer players Mary Earps in 2023 and Beth Mead in 2022, and tennis player Emma Raducanu in 2021.

As well as winning Olympic gold, the 22-year-old Hodgkinson successfully defended her European title and set a new British record — of 1 minute, 54.61 seconds — that made her the sixth fastest woman in history in the 800.

Darts superstar Luke Littler was second in the public vote after finishing as the runner-up in the world championship at the age of 16, while England cricketer Joe Root took third-place prize at a ceremony in Salford.

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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

Olympic Hightlights

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FILE - South Africa’s Jacques Freitag competes in the men’s high jump of the 2004 Olympic Games, in the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Friday Aug. 20, 2004. Local media is reporting that South African police have discovered the body of former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag after he went missing last month. The reports said the 42-year-old, who won the 2003 world title in Paris and competed at the 2004 Olympics, had been shot. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

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FILE - Ilona Maher of USA is tackled by Sharni Williams of Australia in a semifinal of the Rugby World Cup 7’s championship held in Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022. The main task for Maher, the breakout social media star on TikTok at the Tokyo Olympics, is winning a medal in Paris. (AP Photo/Halden Krog, File)

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FILE - Jacques Freitag of South Africa waves his national flag after he won the Men’s high jump event at the World Athletics Championships, at the Stade de France in Saint Denis, north of Paris, Monday, Aug. 25, 2003. Local media is reporting that South African police have discovered the body of former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag after he went missing last month. The reports said the 42-year-old, who won the 2003 world title in Paris and competed at the 2004 Olympics, had been shot. (AP Photo/Thomas Kienzle, File)

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Sammy Sullivan of USA in action during HSBC rugby sevens series in Singapore, on May 4, 2024. The anthem played as Army officer Sammy Sullivan stood to attention and saluted beside her U.S. rugby teammates before a gold-medal game in Hong Kong against Olympic champion New Zealand. No prizes for guessing where her mind may have drifted to: Paris in July. (AP Photo/Suhaimi Abdullah)

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USA Water Polo Women’s Senior National Team attacker Ryann Neushul, left, trains at Long Beach City College Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, in Long Beach, Calif. Following in the footsteps of two older sisters who won gold with the U.S. women’s water polo team, Ryann Neushul is making her Olympic debut in Paris this summer. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

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Iranian wrestler Iman Mahdavi, 28, practices at the Lotta Club Seggiano gym, in Pioltello , northern Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

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FILE - Steven van de Velde of the Netherlands competes during the CEV Beach Volley Nations Cup Vienna 2022 men’s semifinal game against Austria at the Red Bull Beach Arena in Vienna, Austria, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. Van de Velde, convicted and imprisoned eight years ago for raping an underage girl in England has qualified for the Paris Olympics. (AP Photo/Florian Schroetter, File)