Sports Personality Of The Year 2011: Sir Steve Redgrave Given Lifetime Achievement Award (PHOTOS, POLL, LIVE BLOG)

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Olympic rowing legend Sir Steve Redgrave will be given the Lifetime Achievement Award at the event tonight, it has been announced.

Redgrave, who won five gold medals at successive Olympics from 1984 to 2000, will be recognised for his huge contribution to rowing and his ongoing commitment to promoting sport in the UK.

It is unlikely that steely Redgrave will have the same dewy-eyed reaction as David Beckham. when he was given the same award last year, and given an almost embarrassingly extended standing ovation from his sporting peers in the audience.

However, the grand prize of Sports Personality Of The Year is still up for grabs, with 10 of Britain's finest sportsMEN nominated.

The public will pick the winner from a shortlist of 10, which includes Mark Cavendish, Darren Clarke, Alastair Cook,Luke Donald, Mo Farah,Dai Greene, Amir Khan, Rory McIlroy, Andy Murray and Andrew Strauss.

Mark Cavendish is a likely winner and the bookies' favourite, after he became Britain's first cyclist to win the Tour de France's green jersey (given to the victor of points classification) this year. The 26-year-old also scooped the top prize of the rainbow jersey, becoming Britain's first World Champion for 46 years.

SkyBet, Bet365 and Blue Square are amongst the bookmakers offering odds of 1/3 that the cycling star will collect the coveted trophy.

The closest any female athlete came to making the top ten was the world champion swimmer, Rebecca Adlington, who missed out by a single vote.

In 2008 the award went to Sir Chris Hoy, in 2009 it went to Ryan Giggs and last year, jockey AP McCoy took home the coveted title.

Broadcast live from MediaCity in Salford Quays for the first time, the show will be screened on BBC One. Follow the show with our live blog from 8pm. Keep up with all your wittiest, most pertinent tweets in our Live Blog below...