Art history is filled with examples of artists drawing inspiration from the sporting arena; consider Edgar Degas ’ Young Spartans Exercising; George Stubbs’ horse racing paintings; Henri Rousseau 's Football Players; George Bellows ’ boxers; as well as more recent works, such as Jonas Wood's tennis court drawinngs, or Wilhelm Sasnal ’s depictions of speedway competitors.

Fauvist Maurice de Vlaminck was professional cyclist British painter Ben Nicholson was a keen tennis and table tennis player. Matthew Barney, a contemporary American video artist, was on his high school wrestling and football teams. Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp, two of the most famous artists of the 20th Century, met over a game of totem tennis.