The Worst Sport Star Statues

Statues traditionally were created to commemorate a historical event, or the life of an influential person. Sports legends deserve their recognition with the world bowing down and worshipping them as superiors. But do we worship or laugh at the attempts to immortalise these idols?

Write a book, take a photo or paint a painting, and who knows whether it will be around in years to come. But build a dreadful 100-ton silver statue, well we’ll be staring at that hideous thing for centuries!

Luckily, some may say it’s more interesting when a statue creates a funny photo opportunity or buzz on social media. See what you think and take a look at some of the worst sport star statues made:

Christiano Ronaldo

Source: bbc.co.uk

You may have seen the awful attempt of this less-than-worthy bust of Christiano Ronaldo. If you look at it too long it may start to creep you out with its toothy smile. It looks nothing like the sports superstar and it became the laughing stock of the internet when it was revealed in Portugal March 2017. It even led to the sculptor Emmanuel Santos having to defend his creation by stating it was ‘’not as simples as it seems’’ to produce.

But, the sculptor did not stop there! Determined to create more artwork of Real Madrid football stars, a Gareth Bale bust was uncovered outside Paddy Power in Cardiff only 2 months after Rolando’s bust. Those betting online at Paddy Power may have given this unveiling a miss after the dreadful representation of Rolando sculptor earlier last year. The artist stated he was ‘’very proud’’ of his latest creation but fans were not as impressed.

Source: dailymail.co.uk

David Beckham

Source: dailymail.co.uk

This statue will surely catch your eye but don’t mistake it for the Silver Surfer in Fantastic Four, it is Goldenballs David Beckham. The statue consists of the sports superstar not wearing his magic number 7 shirt but instead just his tighty-whities. It was created for a new campaign for H&M and erected in various location around New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco in 2012. But it did very little to impress sports fans and his silverballs were rather too prominent for our liking.

Walter Johnson

Source: rotblattamrany.com

You have to ask whoever created this statue – what were you thinking! How ridiculous it looks to depict a ‘in motion’ shot of the player throwing the ball and turn that into a statue is just shocking. Even his right hand and his stiff legs just offend the ballplayer, in fact Johnson’s grandson Henry Thomas called the statue ‘’hideous’’ and ‘’not even close’’.  This statue simply doesn’t work and looks like twisted and wrong.

Andy Murray

Source: edition.cnn.com

Andy Murray stands awkwardly next to his statue and we can understand why. For many seeing this for the first time, this probably looks like a random way to represent Murray.

Successful tennis superstars are often rewarded with trophies and medals, but China’s Shangahi Rolex Masters (a professional men’s tennis tournament in Shanghai) are traditionally gifted with a terracotta statue of themselves.

However, from Murray’s surly expression during the unveiling in 2011, he seemed unimpressed and probably wishing he got a medal instead. A terracotta warrior holding a tennis racket doesn’t really fit and the face of the statue looks more like a stern Abraham Lincoln than Murray himself.

Arthur Ashe

Source: tennis.com

Another superstar in the world of tennis with a statue that will last forever. Unfortunately this sculpture appears as though Ashe is mocking little children for their lack of height. The statue shows the tennis player holding a book in one hand, which the small children are trying to reach for, and a tennis racket in the other hand. The statue was meant to illustrate the importance of sports and education to Ashe, regrettably the statue does a poor job to represent this.