| Although the precise origins of the connection | | | | nations, while in industrialized societies equipment was |
| between sports and international relations remain | | | | standardized, local and national organizations were set |
| obscure, all cultures have participated over the | | | | up to govern play, and a doctrine of |
| course of history in different physical contests that | | | | character-building declared sports to be a necessary |
| fostered cultural exchange and contributed to their | | | | endeavor for men. The revival of the Olympics in |
| citizens' political discourse. The ancient Egyptians | | | | 1896 and the blossoming U.S. intercollegiate athletic |
| swam, raced, wrestled, and played games with balls. | | | | system boosted many forms of amateur, or unpaid |
| The ancient Greeks held large athletic festivals, | | | | sports at the same time that professional sports |
| including the Olympic Games that drew athletes' | | | | (such as baseball, boxing, and bicycle racing) drew |
| attention from all over the ancient world. Two of the | | | | large numbers of spectators. Sports that were |
| very first 'nations' to engage their athletes in sport | | | | traditionally played only in specific countries became |
| competitions, were the Greeks and the Romans. | | | | by legislative act or general acceptance, national |
| They competed in various athletic events like chariot | | | | sports, like baseball in the United States, bullfighting in |
| races, or throwing the javelin, often relying on the | | | | Spain and Mexico, cricket in England, and ice hockey |
| participation of animals, or on the use of mechanical | | | | in Canada.During the 20th century, sports took on an |
| contrivances, a tradition continued into modern times | | | | increasingly international flavor aside from the world |
| in sports such as dog racing, horse racing, and | | | | championships for individual sports, like soccer's World |
| shooting.During the Middle Ages, the cultural isolation | | | | Cup, large-scale international meets, such as the |
| imposed by the feudal system and religious doctrine | | | | Pan-American Games and the Commonwealth |
| that opposed the use of the body for play hampered | | | | Games, were inaugurated. Sports have |
| the development of organised sport in the Western | | | | correspondingly become increasingly politicized, as the |
| world. For many centuries, contests between knights | | | | boycott of the 1980 Moscow games by Western |
| in tournaments that emphasised military skill were | | | | nations has shown, or the retaliatory boycott of the |
| among the only forms of approved, public sports. In | | | | 1984 Los Angeles games by Soviet-bloc nations, an |
| the Renaissance and Enlightenment periods, games | | | | exchange brought on by Soviet actions in |
| and exercise attained renewed popularity. As had | | | | Afghanistan.Despite the difficulties that rose over the |
| been the case in ancient times, however, politics and | | | | past, sport events are considered today a great |
| social class circumscribed activity. Sports that required | | | | opportunity for individual countries to promote their |
| wealth or leisure, such as polo or falconry, were the | | | | cultures, politics and trade. The new terms of |
| province of the upper classes, affluent nations, while | | | | globalization and international relations came into the |
| inexpensive, massed sports, such as soccer, took | | | | scene of economic evolution and affected sport's |
| root among commoners and underdeveloped | | | | politics, regulations, communication and society as a |
| countries.The late 19th century witnessed an | | | | whole, by using sports mass acceptance as a |
| expanding belief in sport as useful recreation and as a | | | | dominant tool for international negotiations and |
| mean of interconnectivity between people and | | | | cultural exchange. |