Strictly Come Dancing: Sports Stars who have won

Strictly Come Dancing is back on our screens, with 15 celebrities having taken to the dancefloor for the opening night of the 21st series last Saturday.

Weeks of thrills and glitzy costumes lie ahead as individuals from a range of fields compete for the iconic Glitterball Trophy.

Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas and Anton Du Beke have returned as the four judges for this year's series and the betting suggests it will be a competitive series.

There have been winners from all walks of life since the series began back in 2004 with a handful of sports stars having lifted the Glitterball Trophy.

Here is a look at the winners with a sporting background and how they became Strictly Come Dancing champions.

What	Strictly Come Dancing
Where	BBC Ballroom, Elstree Studios, London
When	Saturday 23rd September - Saturday 16th December 2023
How to watch	BBC One, BBC Two & BBC iPlayer
Odds	Bobby Brazier 2/1, Nigel Harman 7/2, Angela Scanlon 6/1, Ellie Leach 13/2, Annabel Croft 8/1

Louis Smith - 2012

In the early years of Strictly Come Dancing, sports stars enjoyed plenty of success but they have struggled more recently with Olympic gymnast Louis Smith the last to triumph more than a decade ago in 2012.

The former Team GB Olympic silver and bronze medallist won series ten with partner Flavia Cacace, having edged out Girls Aloud singer Kimberley Walsh and actress and singer Denis van Outen in the final.

Smith was a prime example of a celebrity who improved significantly as the weeks went on and went top of the leaderboard for the first time in Halloween week with his tango.

In the final, he and Cacace scored a perfect 40 with their showdance and after the win, he said: "It was brilliant. The training was harder than gymnastics as everything was a new challenge."

Chris Hollins - 2009

One could argue whether or not Chris Hollins should be on this list, with the 2009 winner having technically made a name for himself in journalism and broadcasting rather than sport.

But before he was sports correspondent for BBC Breakfast in 2012, Hollins was a first-class cricketer, scoring 415 runs across eight matches at an average of 51.87 for Oxford University.

He won series seven with Ola Jordan, with Hollyoaks actor Ricky Whittle having to settle for the runner-up spot.

Mark Ramprakash - 2006

Only the second sportsperson to take home the Glitterball, former England cricketer Mark Ramprakash won series four of Strictly Come Dancing in 2006 with partner Karen Hardy.

Ramprakash made 52 Test appearances for England, scoring 2,350 runs, and he is now president and batting coach for Middlesex.

His and Hardy's Salsa to 'Hot Hot Hot' by Arrow received a perfect 40 in the final, helping him to beat fellow sportsperson Matt Dawson and the rugby player's partner Lilia Kopylova.

Ramprakash also went on to feature in a special edition of Strictly Come Dancing for Sport Relief just two years later, winning with partner Kara Tointon, who was another celebrity previously on the show.

Darren Gough - 2005

Ramprakash was not, however, the first sportsperson or even cricketer to win Strictly Come Dancing - those honours belong to 2005 champion Darren Gough.

Former Yorkshire captain Gough made a name for himself as a prolific pace bowler for England throughout the 1990s and is his country's second-highest wicket-taker in One-Day Internationals with 235.

Gough also claimed 229 Test wickets during his career before the swing bowler called time on his career in 2008.

Before that, though, he impressed on BBC One's hit dance show, claiming the Glitterball trophy with partner Lilia Kopylova - a British national champion dancer.

Gough's scores in the final were actually lower than his competitors - he posted 36 with both his Foxtrot and his Paso Doble - but it went down well with viewers and he finished ahead of third-placed Zoe Ball and runner-up Colin Jackson - another sportsperson on the show.

Gough also went on to win the 2005 Christmas Special as well as the 2007 Christmas Special and was the third celebrity to win a series of Strictly Come Dancing.