I had a run-in with the Today programme on Radio 4 the other day. The sports reporter referred to the lack of women on last year’s Sports Personality Of The Year (SPOTY) shortlist as a ‘hoo-ha’. This made me a little tetchy. “Please don’t trivialise it,” I snapped. “It was not a hoo-ha. It was a matter for genuine debate and entirely reflective of the lack of media coverage of women’s sport.”

I think he got the message. So did thousands of listeners who tweeted their support. This is the time for change and in Stylist, I now have a regular column in which to showcase women’s sport. This really matters to me and I hope it matters to you. I think women’s sport has the power to change the world by giving young girls role models to admire, goals for which to aim and a healthy body image that will allow them to be physically and mentally stronger.

The five women on this year’s SPOTY shortlist reflect the huge variety of sports open to women and the talent they exude inspires us all. Nicola Adams smiled her way to an historic first boxing gold medal won by a woman. Gentle away from the ring, she shows that women can be strong and agile and proves that we don’t have to be limited by traditional definitions of male and female roles.

They say women are good at multi-tasking and Jessica Ennis is athletic proof of that. Facing seven events over two days, each one of them requiring a different skill, she dominated the heptathlon. Confident and bright, every day in Ennis world is full of sunshine.

Katherine Grainger is the modern-day Robert the Bruce. He may have sat in a cave staring at a spider thinking ‘if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again’ but the 37 year old proved it for herself. Three Olympic silver medals is not how she wanted her story to end, so she teamed up with Anna Watkins. Together, they turned the double sculls into a victory procession. Equally impressive was the way she held it together afterwards. She didn’t weep as Sir Steve Redgrave hugged her (I did and I was only watching) but she exuded a quiet dignity.

The Clare Balding Report: “Radio 4’s reporter made me tetchy”