The BBC revealed the sportspeople who are scoring big for the planet
We already have a quicker gender neutral method of referring to these people, it's called athletes. Efficiency is a virtue and we don't need to rename everything to be inclusive, just the exclusive things.
I get what you are saying here, but in this case you are mistaken. Are athletes sportspeople? Yes. But so are officials and broadcasters and coaches. There were awards for them as well.
You know, I wasn't aware of that fact. I had always considered them to be either support staff (referees and commentators) or a part of the team (coach).