Gail Emms' Blog by Gail_Emms

Hello! So it has been a controversial week and all because of the BBC Sport Personality of the Year Awards and the fact there are no women in the top 10 shortlist. I saw the list and was disappointed to be honest and I sent a few tweets about it. For me, to be the top of the world in your sport, to be world champion is the pinnacle and takes years of hard work and dedication. And the fact that I could think of 7 women who were world champions in their sport in 2011 and were not on the list, really frustrated me.

There is Chrissie Wellington (4 x world Ironman champ), Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins (rowing world gold), Rebecca Addlington (swimming world champ), Keri-Anne Payne (10k Swimming world champ), Sarah Stevenson (Taekwondo world champ) and Helen Jenkins (triathlon world champ). And when you looked at all the votes collected from the sports editors from various publications, these women hardly featured. Rebecca Addlington was one vote off the list but the others were way behind. So why am I so annoyed? I am not saying that the men that have men the top 10 spots are not good enough and do not deserve their place there. I think it is very hard to say that achieving in one sport is better than another.

But this is the first time that a women has not made the top 10 and there are no reasons to say that "it has been a bad year for women in sport" as the world champions would tell you! I am annoyed because as a former athlete, I know how hard it is to get to the top, to be the best you can be and win medals for your country. It is not about having your name in lights, but it is about the recognition that you are doing something amazing for your country and the appreciation as well. I was world champion in 2006 and got a one second action clip on the BBC event. So is the BBC Sports Personality about popularity or about achievement? I think the line between the two is very fuzzy and the BBC is absolutely right in making the decision to review the voting process.

To have magazines like Zoo and Nuts vote and leave out SportSister and Zest is just rude in my eyes. I want these amazing women athletes to be on the minds of these editors when it comes to voting. I want the names of top women to be up there with the names of top men athletes. When I go to schools and when I ask the students to name a female athlete, they can't. For girls, who are they supposed to have as strong female role models if we can't promote women in the top of their profession?! They can all name footballers and the WAGs but not female world champions. I think this week has been a kick up the backside for a lot of people. The BBC did not create the shortlist, but they are the ones responsible for who votes. I would love the voting panel to consist of sportsmen and women as they are the ones who really get it. And I think the response to the fact that women have not been nominated has been fantastic. Maybe this will get the media to respond in a positive way, so more women's sport can be seen, and the give the female athletes much more recognition.

On Saturday, I was kindly invited by the LTA to the ATP tennis semi-finals at the O2 arena. I took my tennis coach Pete as he has had to put up with me for the last 6 months and it was my first time to this event. We were lucky to see some great men's doubles, followed by the legend that is Roger Federer who had to face the in-form David Ferrer. If you have never been to this event, I really recommend it. It seems a bit strange watching tennis in this country where it is all blue instead of green and purple but it is a fantastic arena and you can really see how hard the guys hit the ball and how fast the serve is. Roger Federer is truly amazing.

He is natural talent at its best and almost like poetry in motion. My ex-badminton partner Nathan Robertson is similar in the sense they are both so light on their fee, twinkletoes almost and then this gift of reading the game so well, the opponent is completely overwhelmed. Roger of course won that semi-final and he went on to win the final the next day - a true champion. I loved every second and can't wait for next year - thank you LTA! And finally, I got to play with the MK Dons football team today! It was all part of my radio show on BBC 3 Counties "Road to 2012" as begrudgingly, football is an Olympic sport. As there is an on-going competition with myself and producer Luke in "Gail vs Luke" we had a little kick-about with them and then we did a penalty shoot-out against the MK Dons goalie David Martin!

It was very funny and great audio and I would love to tell you if I won or not... but I did score at least one! I don't play football - never have done which is surprising, as my mum used to play for England but she would have been proud of me today. David Martin's dad Alvin played for England in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico City and that is where my mum played her World Cup in 1971! Small world.... See you next week!!