Sport

Sport is one of the world's largest industries, and most athletes are professionals who are paid for their efforts. Because an athlete succeeds by achievement only—not by economic background or family connections—sports can be a fast route to wealth, and many athletes play more for money than for love.

This has not always been true. In the ancient Olympics the winner got only a wreath of leaves. Even though the winners became national heroes, the games remained amateur for centuries. Athletes won fame, but no money. As time passed, however, the contests become increasingly less amateur and cities began to hire athletes to represent them. By the 4th century A.D., the Olympics were ruined, and they were soon ended.

In 1896, the Olympic Games were revived with the same goal of pure amateur competition. The rules bar athletes who have ever received a $50 prize or athletic scholars who have spent four weeks in a training camp. At least one competitor in the 1896 games met these qualifications. He was Spiridon Loues, a water carrier who won the marathon race. After race, a rich Athenian offered him anything he wanted. A true amateur, Loues accepted only a cart and a horse. Then he gave up running forever. But Loues was an exception and now, as the Chairman of the German Olympic Committee said, "Nobody pays any attention to these rules." Many countries pay their athletes to train year-round, and Olympic athletes are eager to sell their names to companies that make everything from ski equipment to fast food.

Even the games themselves have become a huge business. Countries fight to hold the Olympics not only for honor, but for money. The 1972 games in Munich cost the Germans 545 million dollars, but by selling medal symbols, TV rights, food, drink, hotel rooms, and souvenirs, they managed to make a profit. Appropriately, the symbol of victory in the Olympic games is no longer a simple olive wreath—it is a gold medal.

Short Answer Questions

1. To many people, sports today is nothing but ____.
2. What do most athletes of today go after?
3. What reward could an ancient Greek athlete expect?
4. By the 4th century A.D., Olympic contests became increasingly more ____, thus mining the Olympics.
5. When the Olympic games were revived in 1896, athletes who had received special training in camps would be ____.

(Keys.)