A selection of sport's finest moustaches – in pictures

Merv Hughes – The king of the mo was so proud of his handlebars, he ultimately took out a six-figure insurance policy Photograph: Getty

David Boon – Not as grandiose as his team-mate Merv’s, but this is nevertheless an impressive piece of work Photograph: Reuters

Rickie Fowler – the young American golfer’s wispy effort dovetails nicely with his triangular patch of beard Photograph: Peter Muhly/AFP

Nigel Mansell – this was no flash-in-the-pan mo, and when the former F1 world champion did eventually go clean-shaven, it was all a bit weird Photograph: Mike Hill/Guardian

Sebastian Vettel – the current F1 champion usually sports a slick, clean-shaven look, but once decided to sport a falsie as an homage to Mansell’s slug Photograph: Getty

Graham Hill – another F1 driver with a penchant for facial hair, Hill carries off this 1920s British gent look with elegant ease Photograph: Robert Riger/Getty

Berrick Barnes – a non-nonsense slug from a Queenslander with a sense of humour Photograph: Matt King/Getty

Mark Spitz – The American was king of the pool, despite the clear hydrodynamic inefficiency of his face Photograph: AFP

Maurice Garin - the French cyclist and proud owner of this particularly fine specimen won the inaugural Tour de France in 1903 Photograph: Getty

Joey Barton – the Nietzsche-quoting, Twitter obsessed, one-time England midfielder had a hairy moment during his Newcastle United days in 2010 Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

Michael Owen – the formar footballer turned Melbourne Cup horse owner caused a stir when this tache – which even had its own Facebook page – crawled onto his face Photograph: ITV