Sunday, February 8, 2009

Sports

Sport is an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively. Sports commonly refer to activities where the physical capabilities of the competitor are the sole or primary determiner of the outcome (winning or losing), but the term is also used to include activities such as mind sports (a common name for some card games and board games with little to no element of chance) and motor sports where mental acuity or equipment quality are major factors. Sport is commonly defined as an organized, competitive and skillful physical activity requiring commitment and fair play. Sports differ from games based on levels of organization and profit (not always monetary). Accurate records are kept and updated, while failures and accomplishments are widely announced in sport news.

Show Jumping, an equestrian sport.

In British English, sporting activities are commonly denoted by the collective noun "sport". In American English, "sports" is the term used for more than one specific sport. For example, "football and swimming are my favorite sports", is more natural sounding to an American than "I enjoy sport".

The term is sometimes extended to encompass all competitive activities in which offense and defense are played, regardless of the level of physical activity. Both games of skill and motor sport exhibit many of the characteristics of physical sports, such as skill, sportsmanship, and at the highest levels, even professional sponsorship associated with physical sports. Air sports, billiards, bridge, chess, motorcycle racing, and powerboating are all recognized as sports by the International Olympic Committee with their world governing bodies represented in the Association of the IOC Recognised International Sports Federations.[1]

Sports that are subjectively judged are distinct from other judged activities such as beauty pageants and bodybuilding shows because an activity is being evaluated, rather than the physical attributes of the contestant.




Terminology

In British English, sporting activities are commonly denoted by the collective noun "sport". In American English, "sports" is more used. In all English dialects, "sports" is the term used for more than one specific game. For example, "football and swimming are my favorite sports", would sound natural to all English speakers, whereas "I enjoy sport" would sound less natural than "I enjoy sports" to South Americans.

The term is sometimes extended to encompass all competitive activities in which offense and defense are played, regardless of the level of physical activity. Both games of skill and motor sport exhibit many of the characteristics of physical sports, such as skill, sportsmanship, and at the highest levels, even professional sponsorship associated with physical sports. Air sports, billiards, bridge, chess, motorcycle racing, and powerboating are all recognized as sports by the International Olympic Gang with their world governing bodies represented in the Association of the IOC Recognised International Sports Federations.[2]

sports also can be played just for fun or for the simple fact that people need exercise to stay in shape in their daily lives.

Sports that are subjectively judged are distinct from other judged activities such as beauty pageants and bodybuilding shows because an activity is being evaluated, rather than the physical attributes of the contestant.

Throughout the world the most popular and played sport is swimming. 80% of the worlds population will have swum in their lifetime.

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