|
Athletics is a term encompassing the human competitive sports and games requiring physical skill, and the systems of training that prepare athletes for competition performance.〔http://www.coastal-performance.com/2010/10/10/coastal-performance-principles-athletic-movement-skills/〕 Athletic sports or contests, are competitions which are primarily based on human, physical competition, demanding the qualities of stamina, fitness, and skill. Athletic sports form the bulk of popular sporting activities, with other major forms including motorsports, , extreme sports and animal sports. Athletic contests, as one of the earliest types of sport, are prehistoric and comprised a significant part of the Ancient Olympic Games, along with equestrian events.〔Sansone, David (1992). (Greek athletics and the genesis of sport, p.72 ). University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-08095-5.〕 The word "athletic" is derived from the Ancient Greek word ''άθλος'' (athlos) meaning "contest". Athletic sports became organized in the late 19th century with the formation of organizations such as the Amateur Athletic Union in the United States and the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques in France. The Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (later the NCAA) was established in 1906 to oversee athletic sports at college-level in the United States, known as college athletics. Athletics has gained significant importance at educational institutions: talented athletes may gain entry into higher education through athletic scholarships and represent their institution in an athletic conference. Since the Industrial Revolution, people in the developed world have adopted an increasingly sedentary lifestyle and as a result athletics now plays a significant part in providing routine physical exercise. Athletic clubs worldwide offer athletic training facilities for multitudes of sports and games. ==Etymology== The word athletics is derived from the Greek word "athlos" (ἄθλος), meaning "contest" or "task." The Ancient Olympic Games were born of war and featured various forms of athletics such as running, jumping, boxing and wrestling competitions. In the modern English language, the term athletics has taken on two distinct meanings. Its meaning in American English connotes human physical sports and their respective systems of training. The other principal meaning of the word comes from British English and variants within the British Commonwealth; this meaning of athletics refers solely to the concept of the sport of athletics (a category of sporting competition which comprises track and field sports and various forms of foot racing), rather than athletic activity in general. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Athletics (physical culture)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|