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