It was a glorious occasion when Sir Mo Farah was named Sports Personality of The Year 2017 at a star-studded award ceremony last night, but some people were left a bit flummoxed.
Sir Mo, the most decorated British athlete ever with 10 global titles, beat the likes of Anthony Joshua and F1 driver Lewis Hamilton to the gong.
The announcement took many in the audience by surprise, not least Gary Lough, the runner husband of long distance runner Paula Radcliffe.
Advert
Lough could be seen shaking his head before mouthing words to his wife - and a lot of viewers thought that they weren't pleasant ones.
While the incident looked a bit suspicious, in reality Lough was probably really chuffed at Sir Mo winning the prize. After all, he's Farah's new long distance coach.
Advert
One of the main reasons Farah is moving back to the UK from the US is to work with former 1,500m runner Lough as he switches his focus from track to road racing.
That fact didn't get past one viewer who knew the furore was more of a joke than Mo's success was:
Viewers found another reason to rail at Sir Mo as he was unable to attend the live event in Liverpool to accept the award in person, appearing via video link from his home instead.
Advert
Fans noticed that the trophy was already at his gaff - despite the voting for the award only opening about an hour ahead of the winner being announced. Bit fishy, that.
Of course, it was probably just one of several trophies the BBC had on standby in case someone who couldn't be there won the prize, like Lewis Hamilton who was at home in LA.
Still, that didn't stop people claiming it was a fix. People just love a good conspiracy theory, don't they?
Featured Image Credit: BBCTopics: SPORT, Entertainment, Celebrity, BBC, Mo Farah, Twitter
