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Katie Taylor Has Been Nominated For The BBC World Sport Star Award

Katie Taylor Has Been Nominated For The BBC World Sport Star Award

Katie Taylor is up for one of the biggest prizes in British sport - alongside LeBron, Dustin Johnston and Khabib.

Mike Wood

Mike Wood

Irish boxing superstar Katie Taylor will join a star-studded shortlist at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards after she was nominated for the BBC World Sports Star of the Year Award.

The award, which was previously known as the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year, is currently held by Kenyan runner Elias Kipchoge. Katie's fellow nominees are about as lofty company as you could hope for: basketballer LeBron James, golfer Dustin Johnson, MMA fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov, French soccer player Wendie Renard and Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis.

via GIPHY

"The phrase humbled is overused but I am sincerely humbled to be nominated for the BBC World Sport Star award next to these inspiring athletes," tweeted Taylor in response to the news. The winner will be announced at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards on the 20th December.

The Bray boxer, who won Olympic gold in 2012 and is unbeaten as a pro, has enjoyed a standout 2020 despite the ongoing pandemic. She won her rematch with Belgian fighter Delphine Persoon in August, before defending her undisputed world title against Spaniard Miriam Gutierrez in November.

"There is not a day goes by that she is not thinking about improving. She is an absolute role model to every individual, male, female it doesn't matter. If you dedicate yourself to your passion and your dream, you can make it," said promoter Eddie Hearn after her recent victory over Miriam Gutierrez.

She would be the first Irish person to win the Overseas Personality Award, though several Irish people have won the main BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award for their sporting effort in the UK: Monaghan's Barry McGuigan won it in 1985 for boxing, while from the North, runner Mary Peters from Ballymena won in 1972 and jockey AP McCoy from Moneyglass won in 2010.

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Topics: Ireland