« Sport, said George Orwell, is war, minus the guns. »
Reflecting a political ideal that is both antagonistic and peaceful, sport allows men to compete physically, without seeking to annihilate themselves. Its roots go back to the distant past. It was in ancient Greece that we saw the first gymnasiums and stadiums emerge, a competition circuit was established, and disciplines were defined, framed by rules and prohibitions. Competition and excellence are made cardinal values. The figure of the athlete, avatar of the citizen-soldier, imposed itself on the social landscape for more than a millennium. Champions, whether runners, wrestlers or pentathletes, are the pride of their community of origin: celebrated in poems, made into statues, they are covered with privileges and immortalized in the collective memory. But, objects of immense popular fervor, they are all the more attacked by scientists, philosophers or doctors, who criticize their supposed uselessness and the dangers of their way of life.
It is a history of this first sport, distant in time but often so close to our contemporary practices, that this book invites.
