The ceremonial aspects of the Olympics, we are told, were deliberately modelled by Coubertin on Catholic ritual. But then she adds, 'I was sitting in the opening ceremony, and Christ, I couldn't believe it. When the torch-bearer came into the stadium and the crowd roared, I began to cry. So this is what it's all about. I would say yes, but perhaps with a broader definition of 'religious' than many orthodox believers would allow.
Sport exists for the joy and benefits it brings to people here and now.
Sport, moreover, consists of activities self-consciously created by us. We know we made them up and we continue to make them up and modify them, but that does not affect the intensity with which we engage in them or the benefits we derive from them. It does, however, allow us, at least to an extent, to 'sit light' to sporting activity. Australians are particularly good at this, I think. The Opening Ceremony and especially the Closing Ceremony in Sydney showed that, for all the seriousness of the occasion, we are able to resist the temptation to pomposity and can even have a dig at ourselves.