DSA Patron Eleanor Simmonds in last three for BBC Sports Personality Awards

The Dwarf Sports Association uk are proud to announce their patron Eleanor Simmonds M.B.E has been shortlisted in the final three for this years BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year 2011. She was shortlisted due to another record breaking year in which she broke several world records and won gold medals at both the Paralympic World Cup and IPC European Championships. Fingers crossed for the 22nd December when the winner will be announced.

Lucy Garner, Eleanor Simmonds and Lauren Taylor have been selected from a shortlist of 10 to battle it out for the 2011 Young Sports Personality of the Year title.

Garner, the 2011 junior road race world champion, Simmonds, the two-time European gold medallist, and Taylor, the 2011 British Ladies’ Open amateur champion, were chosen by a panel chaired by BBC Sport presenter John Inverdale.

Inverdale said: “This is the strongest field we’ve ever had for this award, and we had an extremely tough decision to shorten the list down to three.”

The panel also included BBC Sport’s Jake Humphrey, presenter Sonali Shah, Newsround’s Ore Oduba, previous Young Sports Personality of the Year winner Amy Spencer and representatives from the Youth Sport Trust and BBC Sports Personality of the Year editorial team.

The accolade, which is awarded by the BBC in partnership with the Youth Sport Trust, will be handed to the winner at the Sports Personality of the Year event at MediaCityUK, Salford, on Thursday, 22 December.

In addition to the three young stars still in contention, the original shortlist of 10 also included: Liam Broady (tennis), Sally Brown (athletics), Tom Daley (diving), Jack Laugher (diving), Pat McCormack (boxing), Laura Robson (tennis) and Anthony Watson (rugby union).

The award is made to the outstanding young sportsperson aged 16 or under on 1 January 2011. Previous winners include Tom Daley, Andy Murray, Wayne Rooney, Eleanor Simmonds and Theo Walcott.

In July, Paralympic swimmer Eleanor Simmonds won four medals in individual events at the IPC European Swimming Championships in Berlin – two gold, a silver and a bronze.

Eleanor who won the Young Sports Personality award in 2008 – also set two new world records, in the S6 400m freestyle and SM6 200m individual medley.

Ellie won gold in the 200m individual medley (SM6) at the Paralympic World Cup in Manchester and set a world record in the S6 800m freestyle at the German Open.

Paralympic Champion, Graham Edmunds said:

“There is probably not much you can say about Ellie Simmonds that has not already been said, which is an accolade in itself for someone so young.

“Ellie is an amazing ambassador for swimming and Paralympic sport as a whole. I get to see Ellie everyday at training and we all have good days and bad, but through it all she is just one of our gang and will do anything for any of us if we need it.

“Ellie is deserving of any and every award she is nominated for, whether in the field of sport or otherwise.”