Chapter 6 touches on Sports and Sports-related issues.
Sport today
does not only refer to activities where the physical capabilities of a person
are put to the test. Sports is now
also related to other issues like celebrity status, wealth, health and even negative
elements like betting and violence.
Wikipedia
defines Sport as an activity that is governed by a set of rules or
customs and often engaged in competitively.
Origin of Sports
As proven by artifacts found by
archaeologists, Sports has existed since time immemorial. Monuments to the
Pharaohs indicate that sporting activities like swimming and fishing were
well-developed thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt.
Sportsmanship expresses an aspiration that the
activity will be enjoyed for its own sake.
Sportsmanship is an attitude that strives for fair play,
courtesy toward team mates and opponents, ethical behavior and integrity, and
grace in losing.
Well-known
sports journalist Grantland Rice‘s well remembered words “it’s not that you won
or lost but how you played the game" explains the term very aptly.
Unfortunately,
Sports violence has
become a worldwide phenomenon that seems to be growing more and more serious.
British
Government legislation to counteract hooliganism started in 1986 with the
Public Disorder Act, which allowed courts to ban disorderly fans from football
grounds.
The
Football Offences Act in 1991, U.K., named other disorderly behavior such as throwing
missiles towards the pitch and pitch invasions.
The
first Olympic Games were held in 776 BC
at a place called Olympia,
The
games were held every four years from 776 BC to 393 AD, when they were
abolished by the Christian Byzantine Emperor Theodosius I. The ancient Olympic
Games lasted for 1170 years.
Events
included Boxing,Discus, Equestrian Events, Javelin, Jumping
and the Pentathlon, a combination of discus, javelin, long jump, running, and
wrestling.
All
of the athletes were men.
The fact that the only prize given at Olympia was an
olive wreath illustrates clearly that the athletes competed for honor and not for material goods or money.
The Modern Olympics
The
Olympics was revived by Baron Pierre de Coubertin and the first of the modern
Summer Games opened on Sunday, March 24, 1896, in Athens, Greece.
World
War I and World War II forced cancellation of the Olympics in 1916, 1940, and
1944, but they resumed in 1948 and are held every four years.
The
Winter Games were added in 1924. After 1992, the Winter and Summer Games were
no longer held within the same calendar year.
Winter
Games were rescheduled from 1994 and held every four years thereafter.
This is one of most anticipated of competitions
which brings with it many money winning opportunities as well as huge losses
resulting from gaming bets.
The competition, started in 1930, is
played every four years. It was only cancelled during the Second World War.
Brazil hosted the last competition
in 2014 where Germany emerged Champion after extra time.