The 2012 BBC Sports Personality of the Year which are due to take place on December 16th will surely be the most hotly contested in the events history.

Following the huge success of Team GB at their home Olympic games you could make a case for virtually anyone of their medalists receiving the award.

You have the more obvious choice big name Gold medal winners like Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis, Victoria Pendleton, Bradley Wiggins and Sir Chris Hoy but you also have athletes like Tom Daley and Gemma Gibbons who overcame huge personal hardships to achieve success.

The 2012 Olympics was full of great success stories for British athletes, any of which would normally be enough to earn the title of Sports Personality of the Year but this is no normal year.

It’s hard to see anyone winning the title who wasn’t part of Olympic Team GB but Bradley Wiggins who also won Le Tour de France on top of his Olympic Gold must be a major contender.

Once again in virtually any other year that magnificent win alone would easily be enough to receive the most votes.

Of the Gold Medalists the likes of Mo Farah and Jess Ennis who captured the nations hearts on that super Saturday night in August must be in with a great chance of winning and one thing is for certain, whoever does win will truly deserve it.

Here is a list of some of the favorites to win BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2012:

View the official final 12 nominees short list.

Mo Farah

Jessica Ennis

Bradley Wiggins

Sir Chris Hoy

Victoria Pendelton

Laura Trott

Ben Ainslie

Greg Rutherford

Beth Tweddle

Tom Daley

Any Murray

Alistair Brownlee

Charlotte Dujardin

Katherine Grainger

This BBC award can of course only be won by a British sportsman or sportswoman. We do not yet have 100% confirmation of the exact date the awards will be held but their expected to take place on the 16th of December 2012 and will be broadcast live on BBC TV in the UK.