Games, in all their forms, have been played in virtually every society since the beginning of human kind. Sport might appear more evidently in our lives today, but that is simply because we possess greater leisure time and the technology to allow us the greater opportunity to watch or participate in sports and sports events, and might not intrinsically, be more a part of us now than it ever was. In the following is a brief overview of the earliest accounts of sports and a list of when the big games of today first were arranged.
The Saga of Sport and the First Games
The origin of human games and sports predates recorded history; the world’s oldest sports are, nevertheless, believed to be running and fighting sports. People through all times seem to have been drawn to compete in running and fighting as a sport. Hieroglyphs from as early as 4000 BC record boxing are found throughout the Nile valley. Tomb paintings from 3400-1500 BC in Egypt are portraying running, swimming, rowing, archery and wrestling.
The oldest organized sports competition on record is the Tailteann Games held in Ireland from 1800 B.C. until about AD 1180. The Tailteann Games, staged at what is now known as Telltown, is considerably older than the ancient Greek Olympic Games which began in 776 BC when the Tailteann Games had already had 1,053 annual celebrations. The Tailteann Games were held in memory of Queen Tailte, who probably used to live at nearby Tara. This annual thirty-day gathering included such events as foot racing and stone throwing and it survived in its entire splendor until the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1168 AD. There was a half-hearted effort in 1924 and 1932 to revive the Games when a modern Tailteann was staged in Croke Park but the affair was never pursued.
At 1000 BC, in Mexico, the Olmec are recorded to have played a soccer-like game on courts with rubber balls. In 490 BC a Greek soldier, legend holds, ran 22 miles (35,4 km) to Athens with news of victory over the Persians at Marathon, giving name to the long-distance race, set at 26 miles and 385 yards (42 km) for the 1924 Olympic.
In the 11th century Scottish competitions that included putting the stone (similar to the modern-day shot put as seen in the Olympic Games), tossing the caber, tug-of-war, and the hammer throw (similar to the hammer throw as seen in modern-day track and field competitions) were held. These games were revived in the early 1800s as the Highland games.
Baron Pierre de Coubertin is said to have been so impressed by a Highland game held at the Paris Exhibition of 1889 that he decided to adopt hammer throwing, shot putting and pole vaulting in to the modern Olympics. “The experience crystallised de Coubertin’s thinking and seven years later his visions were realised and the Olympic Games of 1896 became the first of the modern era,” David Webster, a former Olympic official, claims.
When the Large Sport Games of Today Began
- 1877 the first lawn-tennis championship at Wimbledon
- 1896 the Olympic Games were revived in Athens
- 1903 the first Tour de France cycling race was arranged
- 1903 the first modern World Series of baseball was arranged
- 1924 the first Winter Olympic was hosted by France in Chamonix
- 1930 the first World Cup in Soccer
- 1967 the first Super Bowl event
Today, the multitude of sports available through media or to practice is overwhelming, everything from Bagging the Munros to Buzkashi, the violent Afghan national sport where they fight from the horse back over a dead goat are practiced at great eager in different corners of our world. The sports are used (and misused) as pure entertainment, recreation, political tools, aid, peace keeping and conflict resolution, where Judo for peace in Afghanistan is an example of the latter.
Read more:
Judo is one of few sports founded on an explicit philosophy to use the sport for the well-being of others. Read more at Suite101: Judo - More than Just a Sport
References:
Greeks can't hold a torch to the Ancient Irish, Saturday August 21 2004, Independent.ie
Tailteann Games' place in history going for a song by Seán Diffley. Saturday July 14 2007, Independent.ie
Highland games were the model for modern Olympics by Marc Horne, The Sunday Times April 25, 2010
Let the Games Begin by Frank Deford, National Geographic, Vol. 190, No. 1 July 1996
Fight by Philippe de Falco, Fitway Publishing 2007, ISBN: 978-2-7528-0264-4
Birgit Ryningen - Birgit (born 01.11.77) is a judo player with one Nordic and several Norwegian Champion titles. She holds a PhD in material science and ...
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