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Therefore swimming competitively in front of thousands in an indoor arena is considered a sport, whereas swimming in a pool or in the sea by oneself is seen simply as a recreation.
There are many kinds of sports, and they take up a substantial proportion of people's time, money and interest, if not as participants then as spectators.
Sport is a major area of human interest and activity. A large part of our leisure, and newspaper and TV time is given over to it.
A pragmatic approach to defining "sport" is to look at the common usage of the term.
A sport can be operationally defined as an activity characteristically involving :
The excellence referred to above may be measured against previous benchmarks, time measurements, performance of the other team or participants, world records, etc..
Examples of skills which have become sports:
Physical sports use characteristics such as strength, stamina, speed, dexterity and other skills, other sports use more cerebral skills (see mind sport), such as strategic thinking in chess. This article, however, will concentrate on physical aspects of sport.
The line between sports, games, exercise and play is certainly not clear; games are often redefined as sports when they involve particularly skilled participants, which gives them appeal to non-participants. This is especially true in the modern age, which gives much weight to the spectator aspect of sports. Similarly, play is usually understood as less purposeful activity, but can become more like a game or sport as it conforms more to external rules or patterns of behaviour. Exercise is action to develop skill or ability, and may be a forerunner of both sport and games.
Main article: History of sport
The development of sport throughout history can teach us a great deal about social changes, and about the nature of sport itself.
There are many modern discoveries in France, Africa and Australia of cave art (see e.g. Lascaux) from prehistory which provide evidence of ritual ceremonial behaviour. Some of these sources date from over 30,000 years ago, as established by carbon dating. Although there is scant direct evidence of sport from these sources, it is reasonable to extrapolate that there was some activity at these times resembling sport.
There are artifacts and structures which suggest that Chinese people engaged in activities which meet our definition of sport as early as 4000 BC. Gymnastics appears to have been a popular sport in China's past. Monuments to the Pharaohs indicate that a range of sports were well developed and regulated several thousands of years ago, including swimming and fishing. Other sports included javelin throwing, high jump and wrestling. Ancient Persian sports such as the traditional Iranian martial art of Zurkhaneh had a close connection to the warfare skills. Among other sports which originate in Persia are PoloThis article is about the sport. For other uses, see polo shirt, polo neck, VW Polo and Polo (mint). Polo (also known as Cho-gan) is a team game played on a field with one goal for each team. Each team has four players. Polo features successive periods ca and joustingJousting is a competition between two knights on horse-back, wherein each knight tries to knock the other off his mount. Jousting was popular in medieval times, although it is still performed in Renaissance fairs. The knights were each equipped with three.
A wide range of sports were already established at the time of the Ancient Greece. Wrestling, running, boxing, javelin, discus throwing, and chariot racing were prevalent. This suggests that the military culture of Greece was an influence on the development of its sports and vice versa. The Olympic GamesOlympic Flame from Olympia to the opening ceremony. The Olympic Games or Olympics are an international multi-sport event taking place every fourth year. Originally held in ancient Greece, they were revived by a French nobleman, Pierre Fredy, Baron de Coub were held every four years in Ancient Greece, at a small village in Pelopponisos called OlympiaOlympia is an ancient city in Greece, in antiquity site of the Olympic Games. Due to its fame, a number of cities and places in other parts of the world have been named after it: Olympia, Washington, United States A music hall in Paris, France, see Paris.
Sport has been increasingly organised and regulated from the time of the Ancient Olympics up to the present century. Activities necessary for food and survival became regulated activities done for pleasure or competition on an increasing scale, e.g. hunting, fishing, horticulture. The Industrial Revolution and mass production brought increased leisure which allowed increases in spectator sports, less elitism in sports, and greater accessibility. These trends continued with the advent of mass media and global communication. Professionalism became prevalent, further adding to the increase in sport's popularity.