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Gymnastics, doping and abuse

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There is so much talk of sport in the media recently, in a negative way, that I wanted to express my thoughts.


The three themes that regularly emerge are corruption, cheating and cruelty, or a combination of all three.  Sports politics, at various levels local, regional, national and international, are an overarching consideration, as are gender and racial issues.  Most sports are funded by national and local governments on one level or another.  Corporate organisations sponsor sports.  Sporting federations wrangle for power.  Coaches fight for prominence.  Sports relationship to medicine, injury and recovery is currently emphasised as never before.  The battle has become as much one of the doctors as of the athletes.  Perhaps the purest part of sport is the action that goes on in the competitive arena.


The sociological context of sport differs from person to person, country to country and sport to sport.  The framework of political influences begins at a personal level for the athlete, escalating up through the hierarchies of sports coaching and admin, and back down from governmental level through to the preparation of child athletes in gymnasia and athletics grounds.  Sports 'politics' has a capital 'P' and a lower case 'p'.  Political context (with a capital letter) informs the way sport operates and identifies itself and influences sport's structures and position in society.  Sports politics (with a lower case p) is the way that individual sports respond to the environment and go about delivering society's expectations.  All political systems influence sport, and all of human behaviour takes place within the theatre of sport.


Sport is part of an international network of friendship and rivallry.  The Olympics are a unique part of global society in that they bring together athletes from all over the world.  In no other arena but sport and the Olympics does the world come together in this way.  In no other way are the talents of individuals showcased, wherever they come from and whatever they do. 


Sports and the Olympics have not only become an important part of diplomacy and warfare, they have also become a voice and a branding tool for corporations.  Sport as a meritocracy encourages meanings of ethics etc





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