Olympic boxing champion Nicola Adams has been shortlisted for the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award.

Adams, who was the first British woman to win gold in the sport, is one of eight Olympic champions on the 12-strong list for the award which will be presented on December 16 at the ExCel in London.

The Leeds-born athlete, who fights out of the Haringey Police Community Club, won the flyweight division at London 2012 by a convincing 16-7 margin against Chinese star Ren Cancan.

Adams is one of five women on the shortlist, alongside fellow Olympic gold medallists Jessica Ennis and Katherine Grainger and Paralympic champions Sarah Storey and Ellie Simmonds.

Tour de France and Olympic time trial winner Bradley Wiggins remains the bookmakers’ favourite to follow fellow cyclist Mark Cavendish as the next recipient of the prize, but dual Olympic 5,000m and 10,000m champion Mo Farah and US Open victor and London 2012 men’s singles winner Andy Murray are also expected to receive plenty of support in the public vote on awards night.

The same can also be said of the other four nominees – multi-Olympic champions Sir Chris Hoy and Ben Ainslie, four-time London 2012 Paralympic gold medallist David Weir and the world’s number one golfer, Rory McIlroy.

Such is the calibre of the shortlist, other gold-medal winning stars of London 2012 including long jump champion Greg Rutherford and two more cyclists, Laura Trott and Victoria Pendleton, were among those to miss out, as did Ryder Cup hero Ian Poulter.