Welsh rugby player, Shane Williams has won the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year. It was a close run competition due to the high Welsh achievement in sport in 2008.
Nominees alongside Williams for the award were Olympic Gold medal cyclists Nicole Cooke and Geraint Thomas, Olympic Gold medal rower Tom James, Paralympic Gold medal swimmer David Roberts and undefeated boxing World Champion Joe Calzaghe. The winner was voted for by the Welsh public.
Williams has had a successful year. He bought Wales to Grand Slam victory in the RBS six nations tournament and was named player of the tournament. Recently he won international rugby's greatest personal accolade to become the International Rugby Board's world player of the year.
Heritage Minister Alun Ffred Jones has applauded each of the nominees for their parts in what has been a truly fantastic year for Welsh sport. He said "Any one of these fantastic competitors would have been a worthy winner of this honour and the standard of this field speaks volumes for what an amazing year it has been for Welsh sport"