Athletics

ATHLETICS (from Greek athlesis - struggle, exercise), the art of physical exercises, expressed in record achievements, requiring good development of the body and long-term preparation. In historical past, athletics was formed as a result of certain groups of people striving to develop in themselves such physical properties and skills that would strengthen their power over slaves and their might in struggle with other groups of the population. Athletics received its most vivid expression in ancient Greece, where, due to the considerations expressed, the cult of the beautiful and healthy body stood especially high and athletic competitions were given enormous public significance and the character of all-national religious festivals. The most famous were the Olympic Games (in honor of Zeus the Olympian), which took place every four years. The significance of these games in the social life of ancient Greece was so great that time was counted by Olympiads, and the victor was divine honors. At the competitions, outstanding scientists and philosophers also participated (Plato, Sophocles, Socrates, etc.). After declining in the Middle Ages, when the system of religious mortification of the flesh predominated, athletics revived with the development of capitalism, but changed its content and forms depending on new conditions. In capitalist countries, athletics turns into a circus-like, spectacular form having nothing in common with health; in general, it becomes subservient to the ruling class. In the Soviet republics, athletics takes on its special form, entering the system of Soviet physical culture (see) and submitting to its tasks and goals. - In a scientific sense, athletics should be understood as all physical exercises that require maturity of the organism, exceeding average norms of strength, speed, and endurance, and also connected with revealing the highest achievements of these qualities in competitions. Admission to competitions and the competitions themselves should therefore take place under medical supervision. The terms light and heavy athletics, being conditional, do not determine the degree of actual load and energy expenditure of the organism, since the latter depends on accounting for the strength and properties of the organism, preliminary training and subsequent proper dosing of tasks; without this, even from light athletics, the physiological effect can be very unfavorable, especially in the development of so-called record-seeking. - Light athletics includes walking, running, jumping, and throwing; heavy athletics (weightlifting, wrestling, boxing, tug-of-war) consists of exercises associated with great physiological load and is permissible for adults not younger than 18-20 years, who have received preliminary general physical training. Light athletics consists of natural physical exercises and is conducted in the fresh air; with proper application, it has a very beneficial effect on the body, strengthening the neuromuscular apparatus, respiratory and cardiovascular systems, increasing metabolism, etc. Track and field exercises also have great military-applied significance and are included in the physical training of all armies. With skillful and proper prescription and dosing, exercises in walking and running can be with great success used as a therapeutic means for various diseases of metabolism, the cardiovascular system, etc. (see Mototherapy). Heavy athletics is quite artificially united physical exercises of different character and physiological value (for their effect on the body, see the respective articles). The striving for records often leads to specialization in some separate narrow area of sports and one-sided development of individual parts and functions of the body to the detriment of the overall harmonious development. Each type of athletics makes special demands on the structure of the body and functional abilities. Unlike "all-rounders", who are the most comprehensively developed and desirable type of athlete, one-sided athletes may have shortcomings in physical development and even diseases, which are especially often found in so-called false athletes (e.g., professional wrestlers), who specialized in their record achievements, but often have obesity, heart diseases and are unsuitable for any other work. Soviet physical culture does not strive to cultivate record-seeking also because only individuals can become record-breakers; it needs the mass health improvement and education of the population through physical exercises.