User talk:3 Equilibrium 3

In the past people took part in sports because they wanted to win. Now people participate in sports because of the financial rewards on offer. Is this a good or a bad thing?

In the past the main motivation to participate in sports was competition. People wanted to win in order to prove that they are the best among the strongest, the fastest and the toughest. However, nowadays things have changed and sports have turned into a separate industry with large amount of money flowing into it. Therefore the main positive aspect of the financial rewards offered to the top sportsmen is that it is only fair when one receives a reasonable payback after investing in himself. Another positive side of financial rewards is that it maintains the competition and keeps the mind of each sportsman on the most important thought – the results achieved must be the best one can do. Truly, money motivates people to try harder. Finally, in order to achieve good results one has to devote a lot of time to practise. It means that a professional sportsman cannot afford to combine a normal “nine-to-five” job with his training. Thus, the financial rewards are crucial because they often are the only income of a sportsman before he or she becomes famous enough to be a commercial face of some world known brand. However, there are some negative aspects, which the money in sports industry has brought with it. The financial rewards have become the main reason to participate in sports for many people. Therefore it has become more important to achieve good results simply because of the money and not as a result of a fair competition. This has lead to cheating and using different drugs to stimulate the strength and stamina to unnaturally high level. Besides, with money playing an increasingly important role in sports industry it has become difficult to keep the best performers at their home countries representing their local teams. Nowadays, a good sportsman receives many financial offers from different foreign sponsors and clubs that represent foreign countries and is free to chose. Basically the most negative aspect is that the financial rewards have become an irresistible temptation for all the sportsmen and from a simple additional motivation turned into the main reason and purpose of participating in the first place.

3 Equilibrium 3 (talk) 06:16, 21 August 2008 (UTC)