Examining International Relations In The Realm
Of Sports Through History
Author: Jonathon Hardcastle

Although the precise origins of the connection between sports
and international relations remain obscure, all cultures have
participated over the course of history in different physical
contests that fostered cultural exchange and contributed to
their citizens' political discourse. The ancient Egyptians
swam, raced, wrestled, and played games with balls. The ancient
Greeks held large athletic festivals, including the Olympic
Games that drew athletes' attention from all over the ancient
world. Two of the very first 'nations' to engage their athletes
in sport competitions, were the Greeks and the Romans. They
competed in various athletic events like chariot races, or
throwing the javelin, often relying on the participation of
animals, or on the use of mechanical contrivances, a tradition
continued into modern times in sports such as dog racing, horse
racing, and shooting.

During the Middle Ages, the cultural isolation imposed by the
feudal system and religious doctrine that opposed the use of
the body for play hampered the development of organised sport
in the Western world. For many centuries, contests between
knights in tournaments that emphasised military skill were
among the only forms of approved, public sports. In the
Renaissance and Enlightenment periods, games and exercise
attained renewed popularity. As had been the case in ancient
times, however, politics and social class circumscribed
activity. Sports that required wealth or leisure, such as polo
or falconry, were the province of the upper classes, affluent
nations, while inexpensive, massed sports, such as soccer, took
root among commoners and underdeveloped countries.

The late 19th century witnessed an expanding belief in sport as
useful recreation and as a mean of interconnectivity between
people and nations, while in industrialized societies equipment
was standardized, local and national organizations were set up
to govern play, and a doctrine of character-building declared
sports to be a necessary endeavor for men. The revival of the
Olympics in 1896 and the blossoming U.S. intercollegiate
athletic system boosted many forms of amateur, or unpaid sports
at the same time that professional sports (such as baseball,
boxing, and bicycle racing) drew large numbers of spectators.
Sports that were traditionally played only in specific
countries became by legislative act or general acceptance,
national sports, like baseball in the United States,
bullfighting in Spain and Mexico, cricket in England, and ice
hockey in Canada.

During the 20th century, sports took on an increasingly
international flavor aside from the world championships for
individual sports, like soccer's World Cup, large-scale
international meets, such as the Pan-American Games and the
Commonwealth Games, were inaugurated. Sports have
correspondingly become increasingly politicized, as the boycott
of the 1980 Moscow games by Western nations has shown, or the
retaliatory boycott of the 1984 Los Angeles games by
Soviet-bloc nations, an exchange brought on by Soviet actions
in Afghanistan.

Despite the difficulties that rose over the past, sport events
are considered today a great opportunity for individual
countries to promote their cultures, politics and trade. The
new terms of globalization and international relations came
into the scene of economic evolution and affected sport's
politics, regulations, communication and society as a whole, by
using sports mass acceptance as a dominant tool for
international negotiations and cultural exchange.


About The Author: Jonathon Hardcastle writes articles for
http://wonderfulworldofsports.net/ - In addition, Jonathon also
writes articles for http://everythingaboutgames.net/ and
http://ecookingcentral.com/