Sport and International Understanding: Sport as a Carrier of Deep Culture and Structure

Abstract

„Wer immer streb end sich bemüht, den können wir erlösen“ says Goethe in Faust. I start with this quotation since the paper itself takes a relatively definite stand against competitive sport, and particularly against competitive sport at the international level. So let it be said from the beginning: this is not an argumentation against individual achievement, or collective achievement for that matter, against people doing their best, trying to achieve what has not been achieved before. The problem is whether the method of achievement should be through competition or through the individual, and the group, working with and on itself — in the field of sports as well as in the arts.