Sport Sport ( or , primarily in North America , sports ) is all forms of competitive physical activity which , through casual or organised participation , aim to use , maintain or improve physical ability and provide entertainment to participants . Hundreds of sports exist , from those requiring only two participants , through to those with hundreds of simultaneous participants , either in team s or competing as individuals . Sport is generally recognised as activities which are based in physical athleticism or physical dexterity , with the largest major competitions such as the Olympic Games admitting only sports meeting this definition , and other organisations such as the Council of Europe using definitions precluding activities without a physical element from classification as sports . However , a number of competitive , but non - physical , activities claim recognition as mind sport s . The International Olympic Committee ( through ARISF ) recognises both chess and bridge as " bona fide " sports , and SportAccord , the international sports federation association , recognises five non - physical sports , although limits the amount of mind games which can be admitted as sports . Sports are usually governed by a set of rules or custom s , which serve to ensure fair competition , and allow consistent adjudication of the winner . Winning can be determined by physical events such as scoring goals or crossing a line first , or by the determination of judges who are scoring elements of the sporting performance , including objective or subjective measures such as technical performance or artistic impression . In organised sport , records of performance are often kept , and for popular sports , this information may be widely announced or reported in sport news . In addition , sport is a major source of entertainment for non - participants , with spectator sports drawing large crowds to venues , and reaching wider audiences through sports broadcasting . Meaning and usage . Etymology . " 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 " . The Chinese term for sport , " tiyu " ( 体育 ; 體育 ) connotes physical training . The modern Greek term for sport is Αθλητισμός ( " athlitismos " ) , directly cognate with the English terms " athlete " and " athleticism " . Other meanings include gambling and events staged for the purpose of gambling ; hunting ; and games and diversions , including ones that require exercise . Roget ' s defines the noun sport as an " activity engaged in for relaxation and amusement " with synonyms including diversion and recreation . 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 . Definition . The precise definition of what separates a sport from other leisure activities varies between sources , with no universally agreed definition . The closest to an international agreement on a definition is provided by SportAccord , 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 . SportAccord uses the following criteria , determining that a sport should : 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 billiard sports ) or primarily animal supported ( such as equestrian sport ) . There has been an increase in the application of the term ' sport ' to a wider set of non - physical challenges such as electronic sports , especially due to the large scale of participation and organised competition , but these are not widely recognised by mainstream sports organisations . Competition . There are opposing views on the necessity of competition as a defining element of a sport , with almost all professional sport involving competition , and governing bodies requiring competition as a prerequisite of recognition by the IOC or SportAccord . Other bodies advocate widening the definition of sport to include all physical activity . For instance , the Council of Europe include all forms of physical exercise , including those completed just for fun . In order to widen participation , and reduce the impact of losing on less able participants , there has been an introduction of non - competitive physical activity to traditionally competitive events such as school sports day s , although moves like this are often controversial . History . There are artifacts and structures that suggest that the Chinese engaged in sporting activities as early as 2000 BC . Gymnastics appears to have been a popular sport in China ' s ancient past . Monuments to the Pharaohs indicate that a number of sports , including swimming and fishing , were well - developed and regulated several thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt . Other Egyptian sports included javelin throwing , high jump , and wrestling . Ancient Persian sports such as the traditional Iran ian martial art of Zourkhaneh had a close connection to the warfare skills . Among other sports that originate in ancient Persia are polo and jousting . A wide range of sports were already established by the time of Ancient Greece and the military culture and the development of sports in Greece influenced one another considerably . Sports became such a prominent part of their culture that the Greeks created the Olympic Games , which in ancient times were held every four years in a small village in the Peloponnesus called Olympia . Sports have been increasingly organised and regulated from the time of the ancient Olympics up to the present century . Industrialisation has brought increased leisure time to the citizens of developed and developing countries , leading to more time for citizens to attend and follow spectator sports , greater participation in athletic activities , and increased accessibility . These trends continued with the advent of mass media and global communication . Professionalism became prevalent , further adding to the increase in sport ' s popularity , as sports fans began following the exploits of professional athletes through radio , television , and the internet — all while enjoying the exercise and competition associated with amateur participation in sports . Fair play . Sportsmanship . Sportsmanship is an attitude that strives for fair play , courtesy toward teammates and opponents , ethical behaviour and integrity , and grace in victory or defeat . Sportsmanship expresses an aspiration or ethos that the activity will be enjoyed for its own sake . The well - known sentiment by sports journalist Grantland Rice , that it ' s " not that you won or lost but how you played the game " , and the modern Olympic creed expressed by its founder Pierre de Coubertin : " The most important thing . . . is not winning but taking part " are typical expressions of this sentiment . Cheating . Key tenets of sport include that the result should not be predetermined , and that both sides should have equal opportunity to win . Rules are in place to ensure that fair play to occur , but participants can break these rules in order to gain advantage . Participants may choose to cheat in order to satisfy their desire to win , or in order to achieve an ulterior motive . The widespread existence of gambling on the results of sports fixtures creates the motivation for match fixing , where a participant or participants deliberately work to ensure a given outcome . Doping and drugs . The competitive nature of sport encourages some participants to attempt to enhance their performance through the use of medicines , or through other means such as increasing the volume of blood in their bodies through artificial means . All sports recognised by the IOC or SportAccord are required to implement a testing programme , looking for a list of banned drugs , with suspensions or bans being placed on participants who test positive for banned substances . Violence . Violence in sports involves crossing the line between fair competition and intentional aggressive violence . Athletes , coaches , fans , and parents sometimes unleash violent behaviour on people or property , in misguided shows of loyalty , dominance , anger , or celebration . Rioting or hooliganism are common and ongoing problems at national and international sporting contests . Participation . Gender participation . Female participation continues to rise alongside the opportunity for involvement and the value of sports for child development and physical fitness . Despite gains during the last three decades , a gap persists in the enrollment figures between male and female players . Female players account for 39 % of the total participation in US interscholastic athletics . Gender balance has been accelerating from a 32 % increase in 1973 – 74 to a 63 % increase in 1994 – 95 . Hessel ( 2000 ) . Youth participation . Youth sports present children with opportunities for fun , socialization , forming peer relationships , physical fitness , and athletic scholarship s . Activists for education and the war on drugs encourage youth sports as a means to increase educational participation and to fight the illegal drug trade . According to the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children ’ s Hospital , the biggest risk for youth sports is death or serious injury including concussion , with the highest risk coming from running , basketball , football , volleyball , soccer , and gymnastics . Spectator involvement . The competition element of sport , along with the aesthetic appeal of some sports , result in the popularity of people attending to watch sport being played . This has led to the specific phenomenon of spectator sport . Both amateur and professional sports attract spectators , both in person at the sport venue , and through broadcast mediums including radio , television and internet broadcast . Both attendance in person and viewing remotely can incur a sometimes substantial charge , such as an entrance ticket , or pay - per - view television broadcast . It is common for popular sports to attract large broadcast audiences , leading to rival broadcasters bidding large amounts of money for the rights to show certain fixtures . The football World Cup attracts a global television audience of hundreds of millions ; the 2006 final alone attracted an estimated worldwide audience of well over 700 million and the 2007 Cricket World Cup attracted about 2 . 3 Billion worldwide viewers . In the United States , the championship game of the NFL , the Super Bowl , has become one of the most watched television broadcasts of the year . Super Bowl Sunday is a " de facto " national holiday in America ; the viewership being so great that in 2007 advertising space was reported as being sold at $ 2 . 6m for a 30 second slot . Issues and considerations . Amateur and professional . Sport can be undertaken on an amateur , professional or semi - professional basis , depending on whether particpants are incentivised for participation ( usually through payment of a wage or salary ) . The popularity of spectator sport as a recreation for non - participants has led to sport becoming a major business in its own right , and this has incentivised a high paying professional sport culture , where high performing participants are rewarded with pay far in excess of average wages , which can run in to millions of dollars . Some sports , or individual competitions within a sport , retain a policy of allowing only amateur sport . The Olympic Games started with a principle of amateur competition with those who practiced a sport professionally considered to have an unfair advantage over those who practiced it merely as a hobby . Following the 1988 games , the IOC decided to make all professional athletes eligible for the Olympics , with only boxing and wrestling still competed on an " amateur " basis , although this revolves around rules , and not payment . Grassroots sport is a popular phrase which covers the amateur participation in sport at lower levels , normally without pretension towards higher achievement , and is in line with the " sport for all " mentality , where enjoyment is the primary reason for participation . Technology . Technology plays an important part in modern sport , with it being a necessary part of some sports ( such as motorsport ) , and used in others to improve performance . Sports science is a widespread academic discipline , and can be applied to areas including athlete performance , such as the use of video analysis to fine tune technique , or to equipment , such as improved running shoe s or competitive swimwear . Sports engineering emerged as a discipline in 1998 with an increasing focus not just on materials design but also the use of technology in sport . In order to control the impact of technology on fair play , governing bodies frequently have specific rules designed to control the impact of technical advantage between participants . Politics . Sports and politics can influence each other greatly . When apartheid was the official policy in South Africa , many sports people , particularly in rugby union , adopted the conscientious approach that they should not appear in competitive sports there . Some feel this was an effective contribution to the eventual demolition of the policy of apartheid , others feel that it may have prolonged and reinforced its worst effects . The 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin was an illustration , perhaps best recognised in retrospect , where an ideology was developing which used the event to strengthen its spread through propaganda . In the history of Ireland , Gaelic sports were connected with cultural nationalism . Until the mid 20th century a person could have been banned from playing Gaelic football , hurling , or other sports administered by the Gaelic Athletic Association ( GAA ) if she / he played or supported football , or other games seen to be of British origin . Until recently the GAA continued to ban the playing of football and rugby union at Gaelic venues . This ban is still enforced , but was modified to allow football and rugby to be played in Croke Park while Lansdowne Road was redeveloped into Aviva Stadium . Until recently , under Rule 21 , the GAA also banned members of the British security forces and members of the RUC from playing Gaelic games , but the advent of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 led to the eventual removal of the ban . Nationalism is often evident in the pursuit of sports , or in its reporting : people compete in national teams , or commentators and audiences can adopt a partisan view . On occasion , such tensions can lead to violent confrontation among players or spectators within and beyond the sporting venue , as in the Football War . These trends are seen by many as contrary to the fundamental ethos of sports being carried on for its own sake and for the enjoyment of its participants . A very famous case when sports and politics colided was the 1972 Olympics in Munich . Masked men entered the hotel of the Israeli olympic team and killed many of their men . This was known as the Munich massacre .