SPORTS
Sport is a form of physical activity or game.
[1]
Often competitive and organized, sports use, maintain, or
improve physical ability and skills. They also provide enjoyment
to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators.
[2]
Many sports exist, with different participant numbers, some
are done by a single person with others being done by
hundreds. Most sports take place either in teams or competing
as individuals. Some sports allow a "tie" or "draw", in which
there is no single winner; others provide tie-breaking
methods to ensure one winner. A number of contests may be
arranged in a tournament format, producing a champion.
Many sports leagues make an annual champion by arranging
games in a regular sports season, followed in some cases
by playoffs.
Sport is generally recognised as system of activities based in
physical athleticism or physical dexterity, with major
competitions admitting only sports meeting this definition.
[3]
Some organisations, such as the Council of Europe, preclude
activities without any physical element from classification as
sports.[2] However, a number of competitive, but non-physical,
activities claim recognition as mind sports. The International
Olympic Committee who oversee the Olympic
Games recognises both chess and bridge as
sports. SportAccord, the international sports federation
association, recognises five non-physical sports: chess,
bridge, draughts, Go and xiangqi.[4][5] However, they limit the
number of mind games which can be admitted as sports.
[1]
Sport is usually governed by a set of rules or customs, which
serve to ensure fair competition. Winning can be determined by
physical events such as scoring goals or crossing a line first. It
can also be determined by judges who are scoring elements of
the sporting performance, including objective or subjective
measures such as technical performance or artistic impression.
Records of performance are often kept, and for popular sports,
this information may be widely announced or reported in sport
news. Sport is also a major source of entertainment for non-
participants, with spectator sport drawing large crowds to sport
venues, and reaching wider audiences
through broadcasting. Sport betting is in some cases severely
regulated, and in others integral to the sport.
According to A.T. Kearney, a consultancy, the global sporting
industry is worth up to $620 billion as of 2013.[6] The world's
most accessible and practised sport is running,
while association football is the most popular spectator sport.[7]
Meaning and usage
Etymology
The word "sport" comes from the Old French desport meaning
"leisure", with the oldest definition in English from around 1300
being "anything humans find amusing or entertaining".[8]
Other meanings include gambling and events staged for the
purpose of gambling; hunting; and games and diversions,
including ones that require exercise.[9] Roget's defines the noun
sport as an "activity engaged in for relaxation and amusement"
with synonyms including diversion and recreation.[10]
Nomenclature
The singular term "sport" is used in most English dialects to
describe the overall concept (e.g. "children taking part in
sport"), with "sports" used to describe multiple activities (e.g.
"football and rugby are the most popular sports in England").
American English uses "sports" for both terms.[citation needed]
Definition
See also: Game § Definitions
The International Olympic
Committee recognises some board games as sports, including chess.
Show jumping, an equestrian sport
The precise definition of what differentiates a sport from other
leisure activities varies between sources. The closest to an
international agreement on a definition is provided by
the Global Association of International Sports
Federations (GAISF), which is the association for all the largest
international sports federations (including association
football, athletics, cycling, tennis, equestrian sports, and more),
and is therefore the de facto representative of international
sport.
GAISF uses the following criteria, determining that a sport
should:[1]
have an element of competition
be in no way harmful to any living creature
not rely on equipment provided by a single supplier
(excluding proprietary games such as arena football)
not rely on any "luck" element specifically designed into the
sport.
They also recognise that sport can be primarily physical (such
as rugby or athletics), primarily mind (such as chess or Go),
predominantly motorised (such as Formula 1 or powerboating),
primarily co-ordination (such as snooker and other cue sports),
or primarily animal-supported (such as equestrian sport).[1]
The inclusion of mind sports within sport definitions has not
been universally accepted, leading to legal challenges from
governing bodies in regards to being denied funding available
to sports.[11] Whilst GAISF recognises a small number of mind
sports, it is not open to admitting any further mind sports.
There has been an increase in the application of the term
"sport" to a wider set of non-physical challenges such as video
games, also called esports (from "electronic sports"), especially
due to the large scale of participation and organised
competition, but these are not widely recognised by
mainstream sports organisations. According to Council of
Europe, European Sports Charter, article 2.i, "'Sport' means all
forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised
participation, aim at expressing or improving physical fitness
and mental well-being, forming social relationships or obtaining
results in competition at all levels."[12]
