Competitive Sport and Sport Success in the Olympic Games: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Value Systems

Abstract

Any culture provides activities which can be identified as a kind of play, game, contest or sport. Equally obvious is the fact that the types of play, games and sport as well as the emphasis put on competition vary greatly from time to time and society to society. For a sociologist the variation is a "why".

Numerous studies suggest that particular kinds of games and plays are more characteristic than some others of any culture. Similarly it is obvious that the variation, the emphasis put on competition and success in modern sport is based on cultural values and social order.

The records of medal winners of all the Olympic Games since 1896 suggest that sports achievements and sports success are highly characteristic of Western civilization, which, in the wider sense of the word, covers all the societies whose culture is primarily based on Hellenic-Roman heritage on the one hand and Judaic-Christianity on the other.

An essential element in Western culture explaining high sports achievements is considered to be a more or less fundamental belief in progress - not only in sports but also in science, technology and economy. The variation of achievements within Western culture is thought to be due to varying nuances of values in various branches of Western heritage and the type of liberties allowed by the existing social order.

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