Sport, politika, biznis - borba za status
Sport, Politics And Business - A Struggle For Status

Summary/Abstract: Sport, politics, and business have represented an indivisible trinity ever since the ancient times and the organization of the original Olympic Games. The reason for the organization of the ancient Olympic Games reflected to a much greater extent the political and business aims than sport motives. This ancient legacy was “nurtured” by the modern Olympic Games. This paper aims to provide a chronological account of the most obvious examples of the connection between sport, politics, and business and to outline the incessant desire of politicians to use sport to achieve political goals, of businessmen to make a profit, and of athletes to use their abilities to achieve fame. In this struggle for status, sport often loses its positive attributes and the sport playground becomes a battlefield for the political conflicts and disputes of powerful multinational companies. The urge to win at all costs has created a fascinating dichotomy in the world of sport. It is a custom to celebrate athletes as national heroes and to consider sport as an instrument that will teach us about true values such as integrity, reliability, and responsibility. However, the problem emerges when sport cheats, match fixing, drug scandals, and violence on the stadiums come to the surface. What is the role of sport in such situations? There are a lot of examples of using sport stadiums as a stage to solve interethnic, inter-racial, inter-class, religious, and national conflicts, and athletes and entire teams become symbols of larger social groups. This is the main reason why sport is more than a game and why sport became devoid of game. A critical view of the dark side of sport can demystify sport, demythologize it, and, finally, lead to an understanding of sport and its role in modern society. In the conclusion of this paper, the authors note that a new segment emerged in the official sport manifested thus far through its three segments: amateur, elite, and professional sport. The new segment is that of spectacular sport. By creating the illusion of spontaneity and uncertainty in the field, spectacular sport, followed by fanatical audience support, has a task to create an impression that the spectators have obtained a certain amount of entertainment for their money, as well as to gain millions in profit, as its final outcome.

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