Treasured Midlands' athlete has her eyes on Sports Personality of the Year award

2012 has been a fantastic year for Britain and an impressive 12 months for athletics in the Midlands. Now, with the Sports Personality of the Year Award about to be announced, Ellie Simmonds from Walsall, is hoping to be crowned the winner.

Ellie Simmonds is a four-times Paralympic champion and five times world record holder in swimming. With four medals and two world records, Ellie helped Britain into third place at this year's Paralympic Games in London.

She was born with Achondroplasia dwarfism in 1994 and began swimming at the age of five.

Ellie Simmonds has already been the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year – winning in 2008, after rocketing into the public eye during the Beijing Paralympics, where she won two gold medals.

This year is the 59th Sports Personality of the Year and is considered the closest final ever.

Other sport personalities hoping to win are Nicola Adams, Ben Ainslie, Jessica Ennis, Mo Farah, Katherine Grainger, Sir Chris Hoy, Rory McIlroy, Andy Murray, Sarah Storey, David Weir and Bradley Wiggins.