Western sports

The Romans exhibited a passion for blood sports, such as the infamous Gladiatorial battles that pitted contestants against one another in a fight to the death.

[10] The sport of bullfighting is a traditional spectacle of Spain, Portugal, southern France, and some Latin American countries.

It traces its roots to prehistoric bull worship and sacrifice and is often linked to Rome, where many human-versus-animal events were held.

[11] Jousting and hunting were popular sports in the European Middle Ages, and the aristocratic classes developed passions for leisure activities.

[24][25][26] In Japan, Western sports were adopted as part of the Meiji era modernization, and were given values in line with the samurai philosophy of Bushido.

[27] In Africa, Western sports were imposed with an eye towards the physical threat posed to colonizers by some of the militaristic training activities that Africans had traditionally practiced, and as a way of arguing that Western civilization was more rational and thus superior to African society by emphasizing the fact that Western sports had more elements of standardization and structure, such as yellow cards, fields with chalked-out straight lines, and stopwatches to measure time periods, than traditional African games.

[32] The Industrial Revolution that began in Great Britain in the 18th century brought increased leisure time, leading to more opportunities for British citizens to participate in athletic activities and also follow spectator sports.

The bat and ball sport of cricket was first played in England during the 16th century and was exported around the globe via the British Empire.

[39] Basketball was invented in 1891 by James Naismith, a Canadian physical education instructor working in Springfield, Massachusetts, in the United States.

[47] America introduced some of its sports to various Asian countries (including American colonies in Asia); this resulted in baseball becoming established in Japan and basketball becoming popular in China.

Western sports became an important part of nation-building and diplomacy for some newly independent countries;[53][54][55] for example, cricket played a significant role in helping India unite its diverse peoples and conduct diplomacy when it faced tensions with its neighbor Pakistan,[56][57] and when Japan was undergoing its post-war occupation, baseball was promoted by Americans as a way of creating reconciliation.

The Olympic Games are considered the world's foremost sports competition, with more than 200 teams, representing sovereign states and territories, participating.