He may not look like the chiselled and toned athletes that were a mainstay of Britain's sporting summer, but darts player Taylor, 52, has a sporting legacy that arguably matches many of the greats on show at the Olympics. His record keeps getting better, too. He has just bagged his 16th world title at the PDC event in London, beating Dutchman Michael van Gerwen on Tuesday night.

Is he really a sporting inspiration?

The man from Stoke practices for hours a day, and his record 16 titles in 25 attempts stacks up against many other stars, not least Michael Schumacher in Formula 1, who won 7 titles in 19 years.

It might be easy to scoff, but having scooped over £5m in prize money during his career, it is Taylor who is laughing all the way to the bank.

But darts is just a pub game with naff nicknames and dodgy shirts, isn't it?

Not at all. The game is continuing to grow and now has an international audience far beyond the sign-wielding, fancy-dressed masses that pack every venue. Taylor finished second in the BBC Sports Personality voting in 2010 and the words 'darts' and 'Olympics' are being used in the same sentence by some – notably Clive Woodward, Team GB's director of sport and former World Cup-winning England rugby manager. He tweeted: "Darts definitely an Olympic sport". Others sing dart's praises too, with ex-England cricket captain Michael Vaughan calling Taylor "one of our greatest ever sport stars".