History of Sports

The Changing Face of Sport

The Changing Face of Sport

Introduction

Sports, physical activity in particular, trace its history in antiquity - thousands of years ago and approximately as early as 4000 BC. It is believed that sports were initially developed and practiced by Chinese society as various utensils suggesting the performance of different types of sport have been found. Historical remains also shows that Practucaban primitive men used sports equipment precisely and not merely tools in their daily tasks, such as running and escaping wild animals, fighting against their enemies and swimming to move from one place to another through the rivers. Moreover, pictorial remains from ancient Egypt also demonstrate the presence of sports, such as swimming and fishing as peculiar forms of amenities (Wels 1995, pp. 97 - 130).

It should be noted that the prime essence of any type of sport is to fulfill the desire of passion and excitement for individuals or a small group of individuals. However, with the advent of technological advancements and globalization, sports have been transformed into a global craze, where entire countries have become indulged in specific types of sports, such as football, tennis and cricket.

Nevertheless, Olympic Games remained the epitome of sports and physical activities and this paper discusses the historical development of Olympics throughout the 19th and the 21st centuries.

Discussion

Before discussing how present day Olympics evolved, it is imperative to shed some light on the history of Olympics. The first Olympic Games were held in 776 BC, lasted for only six days and consisted of few sporting events, such as gladiator battles, horse races and other athletic activities. It was decided that the Olympic Games will be held every four years and will represent a symbol of cultural unity for all the Greek cities. The Games were to be accompanied by a strict military truce while only citizens, free men in particular, are entitled to participate (Szymanski 2008, pp. 1 - 32).

The foundation of Modern Olympic Games was laid during the latter half of the 19th century, when the reintroduction of the Olympic Games was decided on 23rd June 1894. The idea came from Pierre de Coubertin, a French student who was concerned with education, particularly physical education and the prevailing conflict and disputes amongst countries. He learned on his study trips to England on how physical education was emphasized upon in the English boarding school system. Students showed exemplary levels of enthusiasm, ambition and teamwork in physical education classes. Coubertin quickly recognized that sport should be the ideal way to bring young people together from around the world (Spivey 2004, pp. 120 - 143).

Almost at the same time, the German archaeologist, Ernst Curtis, explored the remains of the ancient venues of Olympia. Intrigued by these findings, Coubertin had the idea to revive these games again - in a modern version for all nations. Athletic representatives who had keen interest in sports gathered from around the world came and formed the first International Olympic Committee ...