The Significance of International Sports
International sporting events have become somewhat of a staple in today’s society, whether it be the Olympics, the World Cup, or exhibition games between the New York Yankees and the Tokyo Giants. These competitions generally bring out high spirits and intense enthusiasm. Most people envision sports as childhood pastimes, played for fun and recreation. However, in a lot of cases, international sporting events mean more than just the game or event themselves because they inspire nationalism and patriotism. The patriotism and nationalism that these events inspire, however, is not always positive and can sometimes “legitimize” superiority claims or inspire anti-foreign sentiment.
In 1936, the summer Olympics took place in Germany, where at the time dictator Adolph Hitler was claiming that the Germans were a master race and he would surely be proven right in the Olympic games where the Germans would obviously win every gold medal because they were so superior. Jesse Owens and other incredible African-American and Jewish athletes proved Hitler wrong. Owens persevered to capture four gold medals in the 1936 Olympics; in the 100-meters sprint, the 200-meter sprint, the long jump and the 400-meter relay, breaking two Olympic records and one world record. Jesse Owens’s record for the long jump set in the 1936 Olympics stood for twenty-five years. The German spectators gave Owens a very large standing ovation. In the unofficial point system drawn up by the American Olympic Committee the American male track and field team scored 203 points. Owens, amazingly, scored 40 points by himself, almost two-thirds the total of the entire German track and field team. When Jesse Owens made his triumphant return to the United States, he was honored and celebrated with a New York ticker tape parade, and awarded many honors. Even though the United States was not yet at war with Nazi Germany, the people knew of Hitler’s white supremacy policy, but did not interfere with it because the citizens were extremely bent towards isolationism following the first World War and the Great Depression. Owens’s triumphs in the 1936 Olympics lifted the spirits of the American people who were still greatly battling the Great Depression. Owens was turned into a national icon and political figure, and reportedly received 10,000 dollars to endorse Republican can...
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Miracles. An event that happens that cannot scientifically and logically be explained. Miracles tend to happen in the most unexpected ways. Even though many people tend to not believe in miracles, for different reasons, I, however, believe that miracles happen every day to different people all over the world. Miracle on Ice was truly and definitely a miracle. How is it possible for a group of college kids to overcome the challenge of beating a full, grown, experienced, USSR team? It’s not. It’s a miracle.
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Since 776 BCE, the Olympics have been a way for people of different cultures to come together and compete in friendly competition. In 1892 the first modern Olympics were held in Athens, although it had been over a thousand years since the last game it still had brought together an assortment of different religions and ethnic groups together. Many factors shaping the Olympic Games reflect the changes that have taken place in our world since the last game in 393 CE in Greece such changes include woman’s suffrage, global economy, world wars, and proving competency.
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We were playing against the McAllen High School. I was a starter post on the team we were losing by 10 the first half of the game. We had 5 minutes of halftime the team and I were so upset that we were losing so we decided to pray to gain our confidence back. Once halftime was over starting five went back in we started well with defense once again, we stole some passes, but didn’t make all baskets to catch up to. Until last quarter I made 12 points and I was so happy to make 12 points for the to catch up against our opponent. Our team was still a few behind at the end of the game we didn’t win but I was proud of myself for making those 12 points for the team even if we did not win. My teammates and coaches were so proud of all of us not just me but of each one us for working together not to lose by a lot and not making ourselves look like fools. It was the first since tournaments that I realized that we had a great team that would support each other during a game. Success comes from people who believe in you and support you through things you go through. Success is nor found nor is it a miracle, success is created by you own self from being prepared of how to succeed in life and how you are going to get there because you cannot find success you have to make success find you in. Success is not miracle to be success is something thst
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Jesus Christ himself was a miracle, starting with His unusual birth and ending with His great sacrifice, His Resurrection. His life was like no other, miraculous in every way. Wikipedia states that “many conservative religious believers hold that in the absence of a plausible, parsimonious scientific theory, the best explanation for these events is that they were performed by a supernatural being, and cite this as evidence for the existence of a god or gods.”
When the term "miracle" comes to mind, the average person doesn’t quite know what to say. After all, a miracle is something unexplained that is looked upon in awe. Webster’s Universal Dictionary defines a miracle as:
Sport and identity together have a unique relationship in which any regional or national place can use sport as a means to create a sense of identity. The relationship is complex and varied. Identity can be explained as understanding what or who a person or a thing is. Sport is capable of creating a feeling of nationhood and this is an important factor. It is important too for a nation to create a sense of identity but it is especially important for a regional area. For a small country to host a major sporting event is a significant achievement especially with having rivalry with bigger neighbouring countries. Nationalism can be expressed in a less aggressive manner through sport because there is a clear winner and loser; it is a clear cut way of asserting superiority of your notion over others. In this essay, one regional and one national example will be looked upon to see how they use sport to assert their sense of identity. Cricket in Yorkshire County Cricket Club will be used as a source of a regional example and rugby in South Africa will be used as a national example. We will look at the factors they used to inflict sport as a means to promote their identity and also if these identities are sustainable.