OLYMPIC GAMES OF ANCIENT GREECE AND SPORT: ANALYSIS OF THE DIFFERENCES

Abstract

The article considers differences between the Olympic Games of Ancient Greece and sport. The main idea consists in the following: the Olympic Games of Ancient Greece were not considered to be sport. Attributing the Olympic Games of Ancient Greece with the status of sport competition is the result of a language game and the use of the only criterion the presence of competition is considered to be inappropriate: the presence of competition is the necessary but not the only criterion and it is not sufficient to state that the presence of this criterion makes it possible to consider any event with competition to be a sport event. Competition and sport are in asymmetric relations: every sport is a competition, but not every competition is a sport. The Olympic Games of Ancient Greece were not sport though at the Games there were competitions as additional events which had their own outlookand aims but were far from sport outlook and aims and in some cases even contrary to them.