Is motor racing, by definition, a sport...

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bhall
bhall
244
Joined: 28 Feb 2006, 21:26

Re: Is motor racing, by definition, a sport...

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Hey, I can read Wikipedia, too. :D

Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants.

Fine.

It then defines physical activity (exercise) as:

Physical exercise is any bodily activity that enhances or maintains physical fitness and overall health and wellness.

All right.

With those in mind, do you think a doctor would ever tell a patient that he/she needs to get in shape and then suggest motor racing as a way to achieve it?

Further, the etymology of the word, to which you pointed, is ambiguous at best when taken as a whole as defined by Wikipedia.

"Sport" comes from the Old French desport meaning "leisure". American English uses the term "sports" to refer to this general type of recreational activity, whereas other regional dialects use the singular "sport". The French word for sport is based on the Persian word bord, meaning "winning" or "win". The Chinese term for sport, tiyu [...] connotes physical training. The modern Greek term for sport is Αθλητισμός (athlitismos), directly cognate with the English terms "athlete" and "athleticism".

The oldest definition of sport in English (1300) is of anything humans find amusing or entertaining. Other meanings include gambling and events staged for the purpose of gambling; hunting; and games and diversions, including ones that require exercise. Roget's defines the noun sport as an "activity engaged in for relaxation and amusement" with synonyms including diversion and recreation.


I think it's unfair to base any conclusions about a word's modern meaning when its etymology is that disparate. Otherwise we'd have to logically conclude that motor racing is sometimes a sport in England, might be a sport in France, is a sport for one in Iran and is never a sport in China and Greece.

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Lurk
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Joined: 13 Feb 2010, 20:58

Re: Is motor racing, by definition, a sport...

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"physical or mental pleasure" was taken from french Wikipedia which exactly is "divertissement, plaisir physique ou de l'esprit" (sorry I thought I had specified the source but it seems that I removed it at one moment :oops: )
Nevermind.

As I said, I do not agree with the modern definition (at least what it tends to become) which obviously include "electronic sport" as a sport...
With those in mind, do you think a doctor would ever tell a patient that he/she needs to get in shape and then suggest motor racing as a way to achieve it?
I must say that I would have loved that! More seriously I don't think he would suggest compete in an Iron Man either :mrgreen:
Fact is: motor racing is not open to everybody because of its costs - like doing an Iron Man is not open to everybody because of the physical prerequisites. So he won't suggest any of them.
Plus yeah. Let's be honest, motorsport require a good condition (at least at a certain level) but racing onto a track is not the most efficient way to build your body. It needs a lot of cross-training to be truly fit.
Although I consider it as a sport since it requires to be in a relative good shape and is physicaly exhausting.

I think that the true question is not "is motor racing a sport?" but more "what defines sport?". And it looks more like a question we can try to answer around a fresh beer at the pub than a question with an absolute response. :wink:

bhall
bhall
244
Joined: 28 Feb 2006, 21:26

Re: Is motor racing, by definition, a sport...

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I definitely agree that none of this matters at all. Each activity we've discussed is going to continue on exactly as before and regardless of how anyone classifies them. For me, this is just mental gymnastics - also not a sport - during a time in which I've found myself so bored that I don't quite know what else to do.

And maybe the meaning of "sport" is ripe for debate. It's just not one in which I think I'd participate because I'm reasonably settled on the notion that a sport is a contest of physical prowess. Everything else is a game.

I should also point out that, in my view, neither of these terms denotes a higher prestige over the other. They just mean different things, and I think it's all well and good to notice the distinction.