The Greeks gave us the original Olympic Games almost 3,000 years ago, so it seems fitting to start with this bronze statue of a Greek runner; some form of running event has occurred at every ancient and modern Olympic Games. Competitors in the ancient Olympics traditionally competed nude, a fact which here has allowed William Blake Richmond to show off the musculature and movement of his subject. The sculpture is on display in St Peter’s Square in Hammersmith; Richmond donated the sculpture to the borough (then a village) where he lived for many years.

From running to walking (even if we’re always told to walk before we can run) and on to these two ramblers striding across Heston Farm Estate in Hounslow. They were sculpted by Ray Smith, who produced numerous works of public sculpture before his death in 2018. You might dispute whether rambling really counts as a sport but before the pandemic struck nearly 20 million people were walking for leisure in England alone, many more than were running or cycling.

Whatever you think about hiking, no-one can argue that football isn’t a sport. London is home to statues of numerous footballers, mostly to be found at the grounds of the many London-based teams. We’ve picked just a couple to highlight here. First off is Johnny Haynes, a stalwart of Fulham who played 56 times for England, captaining them in 22 matches. In 1961, he became the first footballer in Britain to receive a wage of £100 per week.

Our second footballing statue commemorates the trailblazing Laurie Cunningham. A talented winger for Leyton Orient and then West Brom, he became part of only the second trio of black footballers to be fielded simultaneously by an English top-flight team in 1978 alongside Cyrille Regis and Brendon Batson. He was transferred to Real Madrid in 1979 for a fee of £950,000, becoming the first British player to be transferred to the Spanish club in the process. Cunningham was also just the second black player to play for England at both youth and senior levels. Sadly, he died in a car accident in 1989 aged just 33.

A little bit of a cheat here, as we get four statues for the price of one, all in celebration of the sport of rugby. The four statues show players in the acts of running, passing, kicking and scoring a try, showcasing the physicality and dynamism of the sport. You can almost see the mud spurting up as the ‘Try Scorer’ grounds the ball, or the tackle striking the body of the ‘Scrum Half’ as he tries to pass the ball away.

We finish with the Sporting Heroes of Barking and Dagenham, celebrating as it does two of England’s 1966 Football World Cup winners, one of England’s 2003 Rugby World Cup winners and a multiple gold-medal winning Paralympic swimmer. There are plenty more sporting sculptures scattered throughout London’s boroughs – why don’t you see how many you can find?!