Tom Brady and Max Verstappen are two absolute pioneers of their respective fields. While Brady holds the record for winning the most number of Super Bowl titles, Max is the youngest ever driver in the history of Formula One to win a Grand Prix. In fact, before he even got his road driver’s license, Max had already competed for a season in the F1 circuit. While there is no doubt about the fact that both the stars have achieved a lot in their careers, they were well and truly trumped by another champion athlete in 2021, when BBC announced their World Sports Star of the Year.
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The globally renowned jockey, who trumped the NFL GOAT and Formula One Superstar, is Ireland-born Rachael Blackmore. The 2021, 2022 Champion Hurdle winner, is actually the first ever woman to win the Grand National, a feat which she achieved back in 2021.
Rachael Blackmore defeated the likes of Brady, Verstappen & Djokovic to win the Award
Ireland’s champion jockey Rachael Blackmore, who has accumulated over $8.5 Million in prize money thus far, was voted BBC Personality’s World Sports Star of the Year in 2021. The superstar had gone past nominees like Tom Brady, Novak Djokovic, Max Verstappen, Canelo Alvarez and Elaine Thompson-Herah to win the prestigious award.
As one can expect, Rachael was over the moon upon receiving the award. “The support has been incredible. I got such a kick out of being on that list of nominees. This is just incredible. My dreams were so big, but [this year] far surpassed anything I could have ever imagined,” she had said, as per BBC.
Irish jockey Rachael Blackmore has been voted BBC Sports Personality’s World Sport Star of the Year for 2021!
This is how she reacted…#SPOTY | Watch on @BBCiPlayer
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) December 20, 2021
Thanking everyone for their support and overwhelming reactions, Rachael had gone on to call herself privileged to be able to win this award. As per the Irish Post, Blackmore had flown to England from Ireland to attend the ceremony in person, but a lot of her time was wasted at the Manchester Airport. Nevertheless, she got the award she thoroughly deserved which is what matters the most at the end of the day.
Rachael Blackmore was awarded for taking Brand Ireland to great heights
Rachael’s journey to the top not only serves as an inspiration to millions of women who want to make it big in the world of Sports, but has also added greatly to the image of her home country Ireland. Recognizing her efforts, the star jockey was also honored with the ‘Outstanding Contribution to Brand Ireland’ Award at Business and Finance Awards in 2022, in association with KPMG.
Not only this, Blackmore has played a massive role in take viewership ratings of the Sport to greater heights. When she won the Aintree Grand National in 2021 flying through 30 fences and thrashing 40 other racers, the event was watched by as many as 600 Million people on TV, as per Businessandfinance.com.
Looking at all this, one can say without an iota of doubt, that she thoroughly deserves all the awards and rewards that have been bestowed upon her over the years.
