There is much more to sports than viewing it as a spectacle for an audience or the sheer thrill of competition for athletes.
Throughout the course of history several movements, organizations and even governments have used the element of sports as a tool to expand their agendas to the public.
In most recent occurrences, FIFA and UEFA decided to ban Russia from all competition, including the 2022 FIFA World Cup, following the invasion of Ukraine in late February.
Sports have also been used as an advocacy tool by organizations to assist athletes outside of competition on sensitive topics.
Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai accused a top Communist Party official, former Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault.
The 36-year-old later disappeared from public view for several weeks and reappeared denying these accusations, according to reports from CNN.
In response to the case, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTP) announced in December of 2021 that it will not hold events in China until Shuai’s case is resolved.
Given Shuai’s popularity, the Chinese government resorted to censoring her on social media to cover up the case and protect Gaoli.
On several occasions, governments have used massive sporting events that are viewed by millions to promote a positive image of their nations under their rule.
One year prior to the 2018 World Cup, Russia hosted the 2017 Confederations Cup in which, before the tournament’s first soccer match, FIFA President Gianni Infantino encouraged people from around the globe to visit Russia when the World Cup was coming up a year later.
This would also mean more tourists coming to visit in addition to approval from a large sports organization like FIFA, which has affiliated soccer federations from 211 nations. That is more than the number of nations who are currently members of the United Nations, which is 193.
Germany’s organization of the 1936 Berlin Olympics serves as a major example, in which Adolf Hitler saw the games as an opportunity for the emerging Nazi regime to push its propaganda across the globe.
Hitler intended to propagate the idea of the superiority of the Aryan race through sports while obscuring the fact that the Nazi’s had established racist policies in Germany, according to a Britiannica Academic article.
There’s definitely more to sports than just competition.
It can show values many people could learn from and used as a self-promoting element for companies and political figures, especially now for social media facilitating communication across the globe as millions of people tune in to mass communication mediums such as radio and television to enjoy a competitive spectacle.