My daughters were recently watching BBC Sports Personality of the Year. When Lewis Hamilton won they were outraged (to the extent that they stormed out of the room). They had been hoping that Charlotte Dujardin would win and when it was announced that the winner competed in what they felt was not even a sport that was more than they could bear.
In an earlier discussion my daughter admitted to replying to somebody who had suggested that dressage was not a sport that dressage was an Olympic competition, which was more than could be said of golf, which the other person played.
All this got me thinking about what is a sport. My first thought was to see if UK Sport had a definition but I could not find one. However Sport England does have a FAQ "what is a sport", its answer being:
The sports councils do not decide what is and what is not a sport. There are many different opinions as to what constitutes a sporting activity and the sports councils do not have their own definition of sport. However, we operate a recognition process to establish which sports we may consider working with. When deciding whether to recognise a sport, the sports councils look to see if it meets the Council of Europe’s European Sports Charter 1993 definition of sport and if the sport is well established and organised within our jurisdiction.
Article 2 of the charter contains the following definition:
"Sport" means all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim at expressing or improving physical fitness and mental well-being, forming social relationships or obtaining results in competition at all levels.
Therefore my daughters were incorrect about both golf and motor sports. Fortunately for them both equestrian sports and volleyball meet the criteria as well.