INTERACTIONS BETWEEN GLOBALIZATION AND SPORTS

We live in a world of rapid change. Although the most obvious examples of this change are seen in technology, it, in fact, has permeated all areas of life. When viewed from an international perspective, it is possible to say that almost all of the borders in many areas - particularly economic, social and cultural - in the world have disappeared due to the impact of technology. Nowadays the process which is seen as the source of all these changes and interactions is referred to as globalization. The word globalization has often been used as a multidimensional concept. Today, owing to the process of globalization in many areas, spatial distances are almost diminished, so much so that the developments which take place at one end of the world may affect another country at the other end. The effects of globalization are as visible in the sports field as in many other areas. Sports is becoming more and more industrialized day by day. Live broadcasting of several sporting events has quite a large audience all over the world. Many foreign athletes take part in national teams by changing their nationalities. It can also be argued that as much as globalization has an impact on sports today so does sports on globalization. The concepts inherent in sports like performance, competition, breaking records have created a common language recognized all over the world, a situation which serves to accelerate globalization.