The Betfair Contrarian: Why Mo Farah will win the BBC SPOTY

Farah doing the Mobot

Always one to oppose the favourite, the Betfair Contrarian tells us why Mo Farah will win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award...

As a nation of sports fanatics we took it to another level in 2012 when Olympic fever caused many to discover their tear ducts still worked after years of inactivity. Indeed, so consuming were the Olympics that it's easy to forget some other sports-related achievements, such as a Scotsman ending Britain's 76-year wait for a tennis Major.

For some reason, the betting public has decided that the biggest hit of all was Bradley Wiggins' Tour de France and Olympic double, but at 8.615/2 the Contrarian thinks Mo Farah will bring home the SPOTY award on Dec 16.

He achieved a major Olympic first for Britain

Mo's incredible achievements on the track were without doubt the most remarkable of any of this year's Olympic athletes. By winning the 10,000m Farah became the first ever Briton to win a distance gold medal and by adding the 5,000 he joined a list of just five other athletes to have matched the feat and only one of those was in the modern era. Furthermore, he may have been favourite to take the 10,000 - his specialist event - but as he lined up for the 5,000 there were seven other athletes with better personal bests than Mo. Not bad.

It was the most memorable moment of the Olympics

You have to feel sorry for Andy Murray, in any other year he would probably have scooped this bad boy blindfolded, following his U.S Open exploits. Not in Olympic year though, not even with a gold medal in his skyrocket. From a British perspective the pinnacle of the games arrived in the shape of 'Super Saturday' capped off by Mo's 10,000m race. Then exactly a week later in living rooms and pubs across the nation people screamed in unison at their screens to will Mo Farah round the final bend of his 5,000m attempt. No one can forget Farah's wide-eyed expression of disbelief as he crossed the line and the magnitude of his achievements hit home.

He has a great public persona

As well as his incredulous head slapping as he crossed the line, Mo endeared himself yet further to the British public in the minutes after his greatest ever triumph. While being interviewed by the BBC he rushed to find his step daughter and heavily pregnant wife in order that they could share in his glories. In all media coverage since, Farah has come across as a humble man, with an infectiously happy demeanour and a real role model for aspiring youngsters. In contrast, his big rival for the award, Bradley Wiggins, has often had a spiky relationship with the press and has even been known to swear.

The Mobot!

First there was Crouchy's Robot, but that celebration pales into insignificance against the might of the Mobot. Farah's signature move was replicated in pubs and dance floors up and down the country in the summer as the nation went into Mo mania following his incredible Olympic success. Even Usain Bolt got in on the Mobot action after securing his own personal sprint double. Expect a trademark Mobot come Sunday.

A cyclist (yawn) won it last year

Not since 1983 (Steve Cram) has a star from the same sport won the BBC's SPOTY two years on the trot. Last year we had road cyclist Mark Cavendish claiming the prize and just three years before that it went to cycling sensation Sir Chris Hoy following his Olympic achievements on the track. While Wiggins may have won the Olympic Time Trial this summer, unfortunately for the sideboard-sporting champion, that event was one of many heroic Olympian performances. His greatest achievement was undoubtedly the Tour de France victory, but that was followed, rather than experienced by the public, and surely they won't go for yet another saddle-dweller in 2012.