Former Olympic runner Sir John Walker is being celebrated in bronze.
A statue of the 66-year-old is set to be unveiled today in Manurewa.
Spokesperson for the project, Keith MacKinlay, says it is a well-deserved honour.
"It's going to be a permanent recognition of a really tremendous person. He was a great athlete - that's well-documented - but also a fine person."
The statue is facing Sir John's old school, Manurewa Primary.
"It will give encouragement and motivation to a lot of younger kids," said Mr MacKinlay. "They will be honoured to have a former pupil looking over them."
The project has been about two-and-a-half years in the making.
Sir John, who won the gold medal in the 1500m at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, will be at the function.
Sir John was the first person to run the mile in under 3m 50s. He has also been an Auckland councillor since 2010.
Newshub.
