The Paradise Lost? Mythological Aspects of Modern Sport

Abstract

Sport, in modern times, finds its roots in the mythological sources of ancient Greece, where it was born as a sacred game to be performed in the honour of Zeus in Olympia or of other gods elsewhere during the Panhellenic games. Since the beginning of the twentieth century and until the 1970s sport was mythogenic (Barthes 1975). But is sport still mythogenic in the twenty-first century? Our analysis attempts to answer two questions: (i) what has been the influence of doping and sponsorship on contemporary sport; and (ii) how (if at all) have both influenced the symbolic contemporary forms of the sportsman/woman myth. We argue that modern sport has become increasingly dependent upon the industrial and entertainment worlds, thus losing along the way the imprinting of symbolic innocence that the myth conferred in the recent past. Moreover, the contemporary perception of sportsmen/women by the general public has changed in so far as it concerns the symbolic aspect of the performer. If their function as social link appears to be intact, sportsmen seem to have lost the classical Olympic symbolism that was generally accepted among spectators until a few decades ago. It does not appear that the mythical aura of sport has been lost but rather the symbols that it has previously carried. Popular admiration is nowadays more concentrated on the sportsman's capacity to acquire fame and fortune by means that appear to be in everybody's reach, including doping. Consequently, the commoner identifies him/her self with the sportsman/woman but does not see him/her any longer as a hero carrying classical moral values.

Resumen

El deporte, en tiempos modernos, encuentra sus raices en las fuentes mitológicas de la antigua Grecia, donde nació como un juego sagrado a ser realizado bien en honor de Zeus en Olimpia bien de otros dioses en otros lugares durante los juegos Panhelénicos. Desde comienzos del siglo XX y hasta los 70, el deporte fue mitogénico (Barthes 1975). Mas, es el deporte todavía mitogénico en el siglo veintiuno? Nuestro análisis intenta responder dos cuestiones: (i)) cúal ha sido la influencia del dopaje y el patrocinio sobre el deporte contemporáneo; y (ii) cómo (si acaso) han influenciado ambos las formas simbólicas del mito del deportista? Argumentamos que el deporte moderno ha venido a depender demasiado de los mundos industrial y del espectáculo, y de esta manera ha perdido en el camino el imprimatur de la inocencia simbólica que el mito confería en un pasado reciente. Además, la percepción contemporánea de los deportistas por parte del público ha cambiado en tanto en cuanto al aspecto simbólico del “intérprete.” Si su función como eslabón social aparece intacto, los deportistas parecen haber perdido el simbolismo clásico Olímpico que generalmente era aceptado entre los espectadores hasta hace unas pocas décadas. No parece que el aura mítica del deporte se haya perdido sino más bien los símbolos con los que previamente se asociaba. La admiración popular está hoy día más concentrada en la capacidad del deportista para adquirir fama y fortuna por medios que parecen estar al alcance de todo el mundo, incluyendo el dopaje. Consecuentemente, la gente común se indentifica con el deportista pero no le ve como un héroe que continúe conllevando valores morales clásicos.

Zusammenfassung

Der Sport der Neuzeit hat seine Wurzeln in den mythologischen Quellen des antiken Griechenland, wo er als heiliges Spiel entstanden ist und zu Ehren von Zeus in Olympia – oder anderer Götter anderswo bei Panhellenischen Spielen – durchgeführt wurde. Seit Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts und bis zu den 1970er-Jahren war Sport eine Mythenmaschine (Barthes 1975). Aber ist der Sport des 21. Jahrhunderts noch Mythen generierend? Unsere Analyse versucht zwei Fragen zu beantworten: (i), welchen Einfluss hat Doping und Sponsoring auf den zeitgenössischen Sport, und (ii) wie (wenn überhaupt) haben beide die zeitgenössische Symbolik des Sportlers/der Sportlerin als Mythos beeinflusst. Wir meinen, dass der moderne Sport zunehmend abhängig von Industrie- und Entertainment-Welten geworden ist und aufgrund dieser Entwicklung in der jüngsten Vergangenheit seine symbolische Unschuld, die dem Mythos innewohnt, verliert. Ebenso hat sich die aktuelle Wahrnehmung von Athleten in der breiten Öffentlichkeit in Bezug auf die Symbolkraft der Athleten gewandelt. Auch wenn ihre soziale Funktion offenbar intakt ist, so haben Sportler scheinbar doch die klassische olympische Symbolik, die im Allgemeinen unter den Zuschauern noch bis vor wenigen Jahrzehnten anerkannt war, verloren. Es ist nicht so, dass die mythische Aura des Sports einfach verloren gegangen ist, sondern lediglich die Symbolik, die er zuvor getragen hatte. Die Bewunderung der Massen konzentriert sich heute mehr auf die Fähigkeiten der Sportler, Ruhm und Reichtum zu erlangen; sei es mit Mitteln, die jedem zur Verfügung stehen – also auch Doping. Folglich identifiziert sich der Normalbürger mit dem Sportler/der Sportlerin, aber er betrachtet jene nicht mehr als Helden mit klassischen moralischen Werten.

Résumé

Le sport des temps modernes trouve ses racines dans les sources mythologiques de la Grèce antique, o[ugrave] il est né comme jeu sacré pour être pratiqué en l'honneur de Zeus à Olympia ou d'autres dieux ailleurs pendant les jeux Panhelléniques. Depuis le début du vingtième siècle et jusqu'aux années 1970, le sport fut mythogénique (Barthes 1975). Mais le sport est-il toujours mythogénique au vingt-et-unième siècle? Notre analyse essaye de répondre à deux questions : (i) Quelle a été l'influence du dopage et du sponsoring sur le sport contemporain; et (ii) comment tout deux ont-ils influencé – s'il y a eu influence - les formes contemporaines symboliques du mythe des sportives et sportives. Nous soutenons que le sport moderne est devenu de plus en plus dépendant des milieux de l'industrie et des loisirs, perdant ainsi en route l'impression d'une innocence symbolique que le mythe lui a conférée dans un passé récent. De plus, la perception contemporaine des sportifs et sportives par le grand public a changé dès lors qu'elle concerne l'aspect symbolique de la performance. Si sa fonction de lien social semble être intacte, les sportifs semblent avoir perdu le symbolisme Olympique classique qui était généralement admis parmi les spectateurs il y a encore quelques décennies. Il ne semble pas que l'aura mythique du sport ait été perdue, à la différence des symboles qu'il a précédemment véhiculés. L'admiration populaire se concentre de nos jours davantage sur la capacité du sportif à acquérir la gloire et la fortune par les moyens qui semblent être à la portée de tout un chacun, y compris le dopage. En conséquence, l'homme du commun s‘identifie avec la sportive ou le sportif, mais ne voit plus en elle ou en lui un héros porteur des valeurs morales classiques.

Keywords:

• sport
• myth
• doping

Notes

It should be remembered however that the ancient Greeks called them the Olympiakos agon – the Olympic competitions (Young 2004).

A characteristic exacerbated in the second half of the twentieth century.

For a review see Price 2001a.

Guttman (1978) makes a scholarly distinction between unstructured play and structured games, the latter being more socially ‘evolved’.

As it stands the statement needs perhaps to be modified – as popular wisdom has it: play keeps us young.

Plato, Laws, VII, available at http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/laws.7.vii.html; by the word musiké the ancient Greeks meant all the arts presided over by the Muses and their master Apollo; in this context it should be intended as knowledge.

Originally printed in 1938.

A reasoned criticism to Huizinga's view was later made by Guttman (1978), who distinguishes competitions that are games from those which are not.

As it was observed by Friedrich Nietzsche in his Birth of Tragedy.

The architect who drew the plans for Gerland's stadium, Tony Garnier, took inspiration from Vespasian's Colosseum in Rome. See Le-Germain 2004.

Suetonius (2007, XXI, 13) was the Roman historian to report that during the naumachia in the Ficin Lake, ordered by the Emperor Claudius, the gladiators said, apparently for the first and only time, ‘Ave Caesar morituri te salutant’. The emperor answered with humour ‘aut non’ (maybe not). Dio Cassius also reported the event in his History of Rome.

The attitude of some fans (hooligans) in modern times seems instead more concerned, from a psychological stance, with a rather perverted attitude as the number of wounded and dead among the spectators following a football match attest in the recent years.

As argued by McNamee (2008) this phenomenon. described as Schadenfreude, is actively constructed by individuals and is an objectionable emotion.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup events involving the French and Italian teams clearly support the statement without further comment.

In more recent times, however, an opposite tendency has appeared among ghettoised minorities that indicates the upsurge of discrimination among different ethnic groups (Silverstein 2002).

Derived from the ancient Greek agon and semantically related to ‘agonist’ and ‘agony’. The participation of officials and leaders of the nation in sporting events may be a reminiscence of the times when the Roman Emperor was present in the arena.

The Muslim's low-bowing prayer.

The reason for this was that often the same god was honoured in different places but under different names.

Michel Serres interviewed by Michel Polacco, France Culture Radio, 14 June 2009.

Let's recall that this edict put an end to the Olympic Games because the Roman Emperor considered them a source of paganism.

Le Figaro , 19 Jan. 1989; see also Hoberman 1992, 223–48.

Following Heidegger's interpretation (in his Holzweg) of the ‘death of God’ that Nietzsche mentions several times in The Gay Science (section 125) and in Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

Its greatest achievements (buildings, roads, theatres) still testify to its remarkable technological achievements.

Such as in the Jeu de la Soule in twelfth-century France which did not have particular gaming rules; even the number of players of the two teams varied and often entire villages played the ball (the choulet) (see Jusserand 1901). Interestingly the Cnapan in Wales had the same basic rule as Soule, with the goal being to bring a ball to a church or a chapel in a manner apparently as disorganised as the French game.

This judgement would also have obtained in ancient times (see Young 2004).

Spectators even appear to be more interested in the caravan that follows or precedes the riders: Tout le Sport, Channel 2 (France), 17 July 2010.

It should be noted that in this concept of sport as entertainment referred to has only a little to do with the joyful spirit articulated by Meier (1995) as the essence of play. This is mainly because of the financial aspects that modern sport carries with it.