Sport

Sport refers to a physical activity or game, typically competitive and structured, that helps sustain or enhance physical capability and skill. It can bring pleasure to those who take part and serve as entertainment for those who watch. The number of people involved in a given sport can range from hundreds to just one. Engaging in physical activity is linked to better health and longer life. Higher activity levels correlate with reduced risks of death from any cause, as well as from cardiovascular disease, ischemic stroke, and heart failure. Physical activity also lessens symptoms of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress. Specifically, aerobic exercise, yoga, and multimodal exercise have proven effective in easing postpartum depression. Sport competitions can be structured for teams or individuals. They may be open to a wide range of participants or closed, limited to specific groups or invitees. Some competitions allow a tie or draw, meaning no single winner emerges; others use tie-breaking methods to guarantee one winner. Competitions can be arranged in a tournament format to produce a champion. Many sports leagues crown an annual champion by holding a regular season, sometimes followed by playoffs. Sport is generally defined as a system of activities rooted in physical athleticism or dexterity, and major competitions only admit sports meeting this standard. Some organizations, like the Council of Europe, exclude activities lacking any physical element from being classified as sports. Still, several competitive, non-physical activities seek recognition as mind sports. The International Olympic Committee, which oversees the Olympic Games, recognizes both chess and bridge as sports. SportAccord, the international sports federation association, acknowledges five non-physical sports: chess, bridge, draughts, Go, and xiangqi. However, it limits how many mind games can be admitted. Sport is usually governed by rules or customs to ensure fair competition. Winning can be decided by physical events—like scoring goals or crossing a line first—or by judges who score elements of performance, using objective or subjective measures such as technical skill or artistic impression. Records of performance are often kept, and for popular sports, this information may be widely shared or reported in sports news. Sport also serves as a major source of entertainment for non-participants, with spectator sports drawing large crowds to venues and reaching broader audiences through broadcasting. Sports betting is sometimes heavily regulated, while in other cases it is integral to the sport. According to a consultancy, the global sporting industry was valued at up to $620 billion as of 2013. The world’s most accessible and widely practiced sport is running, while association football is the most popular spectator sport. The word “sport” comes from the Old French desport, meaning “leisure,” with the earliest English definition from around 1300 being “anything humans find amusing or entertaining.” Other meanings include gambling and events staged for gambling; hunting; and games and diversions, including those requiring exercise. Roget’s defines the noun sport as “an activity engaged in for relaxation and amusement,” with synonyms like diversion and recreation. In most English dialects, the singular “sport” describes the overall concept (e.g., “children taking part in sport”), while “sports” refers to multiple activities (e.g., “football and rugby are the most popular sports in England”). American English uses “sports” for both senses. The precise definition of what sets a sport apart from other leisure activities varies. The closest to an international agreement comes from the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF), the association for all major international sports federations, making it the de facto representative of international sport. GAISF determines that a sport should: have an element of competition; be in no way harmful to any living creature; not rely on equipment from a single supplier (excluding proprietary games like arena football); and not rely on any “luck” element designed into the sport. GAISF also recognizes that sport can be primarily physical (e.g., rugby or athletics), primarily mind (e.g., chess or Go), predominantly motorized (e.g., Formula 1 or powerboating), primarily coordination and dexterity (e.g., snooker and other cue sports), or primarily animal-supported (e.g., equestrian sport). The inclusion of mind sports in sport definitions is not universally accepted, leading to legal challenges from governing bodies denied funding available to sports. While GAISF recognizes a small number of mind sports, it will not admit any further ones. There has been a growing use of the term “sport” for non-physical challenges like video games, also called esports, due to large-scale participation and organized competition, but these are not widely recognized by mainstream sports organizations.