The BBC Sports Personality of the Year returns in 2023 and there are some familiar faces at the helm.

Among them is presenter Gabby Logan, well known to BBC viewers for presenting live sport for over 15 years. Her credits include presenting the Final Result, the London Marathon, the Olympics and the Six Nations, and she has presented a program on BBC Radio 5 Live.

But although she has built a successful career, Logan, the daughter of a Welsh footballer, has also struggled to overcome the tragedy that rocked her family and her marriage to former Scottish rugby player Kenny has not been easy. Here you will find everything you need to know.

A family tragedy

Logan is the daughter of former Wales football coach Terry Yorath and represented Wales in rhythmic gymnastics at the 1990 Commonwealth Games.

However, just two years later, tragedy struck the Logan family when his 15-year-old brother Daniel died after collapsing from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy whilst playing football with his father in the garden.

By describing the tragic event as a “sledgehammer” [that] “They broke the family into a million pieces,” the television presenter explained: “They didn’t warn us. He had a congenital heart defect, which meant that externally and supposedly his physical form was simply beyond imagination. It is in the top 0.00%. Her heart increased and she was basically ready to give in and give in to him, but there were no signs.

“He never choked. When he died, he died in the garden playing football with my father. I was pushing the ball and it fell. It was an absolute disaster. It defined the rest of our youth and defined what the Family was like in those years, and it left its mark in many ways. “It was a very difficult time for everyone and the effects are still there to this day.”

Logan, who was 19 at the time, believes the consequences of such a terrible event led to a successful career. “When my brother died, I definitely felt like I needed to have a purpose,” she explains. “So I didn’t know what that purpose was, but I felt like there had to be a purpose to what I was doing to get it back on track, I guess.”

The tragedy led to his father, who managed Swansea-city-fc>Swansea-City-fc>Swansea City-fc>Swansea City and Cardiff City, drinking while avoiding prison for going over the limit in 2004. He blamed it on his “stupidity”. for his personal pain, while his excessive alcohol consumption also caused the collapse of his 33-year marriage to his childhood sweetheart, Christine.

“I loved being with Daniel and it was mutual. “He was the light of my life,” she said. “At first I thought he could control my pain. I didn’t want to share this with anyone. He didn’t even want to talk at home. I wrapped myself in silence. Christine tried to call me, but I’m stubborn. All you want to do is close your eyes and ears and watch your nose.

“Maybe I won’t have the courage to go to therapy if it hurts more. And I think I don’t want to leave my pain behind, even if it doesn’t do my life any good. The photo I have in my pocket The thought of Daniel’s fall torments me, but before he fell, I saw him alive for the last time.

“It’s a shame” about marriage

Gabby married former Scottish international rugby player Kenny Logan in July 2001 and has teenage twins, Reuben and Lois, who were conceived following IVF treatment. However, despite being proud parents, with Reuben representing Northampton Saints and Lois a promising high jumper, the TV presenter spoke of her regrets about not having more children.

Speaking on the Happy Mum Happy Baby podcast, she admitted: “I thought I would have more children, I always thought I would have four children. “I told Kenny last night when we were talking about our empty house and the future that we should have more kids.”

Although he admitted it was “out of his control in many ways,” Logan said he often wondered, “How did this happen?”

“I think I know how it happened because when you have twins as your firstborn, you think life will go back to normal, but it never does,” he added. “I mean, it’s the same with everyone, but we were waiting for that day when we would feel, ‘Everything is under control now. Now we can have another child.

Lamenting that “we should have done this right away,” Logan added, “We naively thought that our old life, which I think was more hedonistic and selfish, would somehow come back.”

Gabby and Kenny faced another challenge last year when the former Scotland star was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Although he is now safe and well, the diagnosis via Zoom shook the family as the former international sobbed in his wife’s arms.

He told the mirror: “Gabby was in the room. He was behind the screen, preparing for another meeting. We weren’t very prepared. But when we both heard those words…that he had prostate cancer, she stopped what she was doing and we just looked at each other.

“A lot of things went through my head. I thought how could this happen? I’m a former athlete. I took care of my body. I had no symptoms. I asked the counselor if I was eating the wrong foods and if my diet was to blame. He said no, it was just one of those things.

“As soon as I hung up the Zoom call, I started crying. “My wife and I hugged and cried.”

Kenny added that agreeing to have regular PSA tests was what saved his life, with the consultant explaining that they caught the cancer early enough to control it.

“The tests saved my life because the cancer was detected before it had a chance to spread,” he said. .”

Rumors of an Alan Shearer romance

Logan’s marriage also suffered from rumors of an affair over a decade ago, but both he and Kenny knew there was “not a shred of truth” to the claims.

A mystery man involved? Former England striker turned match of the day pundit Alan Shearer.

Logan addressed the controversy in his 2022 memoir. The first halfexplaining that he knew there were many injunctions against the tabloid press at the time, as “rich and famous people” tried to stop “bad” news from being published.

At that time “rumors spread” that the former football player was trying to prevent news like this from appearing in the press. And soon, a message appeared on Logan’s Twitter timeline in 2011: “I heard this ban is for @gabbylogan who is having an affair with Alan Shearer.”

The TV presenter recalled: “I laughed when I read it. Then I got angry. “So I panicked.”

Logan had an encounter with her face, so he quickly responded, “I think you need to be careful what you write here. Publication laws apply and you are guilty of defamation. However, the following Sunday, The News Of The World published an article titled “TV’s Gabby Logan denies affair with Alan Shearer”, which Logan described as “absolute rubbish”.

The story attempted to link Shearer and Logan during the 2010 World Cup, but Logan explained that Shearer lived in Cape Town and she was in Rustenburg with the England team.