Sportsperson

A sportsperson, also known as sportsmen or sportswomen,^[1] is a person who is involved in sports. It may mean someone who is known for the promotion of sport or athletic activities.^[2]

A sportsperson can be a man or a woman who is person trained to compete or interested in a sport involving physical strength, speed or endurance. A sportsman is a player in a sport; but the term also means someone who plays sport in a way that shows respect and fairness towards the opposing player or team.^[3]

The term sportsman can also be used to describe a former competitor who continues to promote the sport in later years. For example, Tsunekazu Takeda is a sportsman who competed in two Summer Olympic Games^[4] and who was the President of the Japanese Olympic Committee^[5] before he was elected to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2012.^[6]

Sportspeople may be professionals or amateurs.^[7] Sportsmen and sportswomen often have particularly well-developed physiques obtained by extensive physical training and strict exercise accompanied by a strict dietary regimen, but term is also used more broadly. For example, Hou Yifan was honored in 2011 as the best sportsperson of the year in a non-Olympic event.^[8]

The term athlete may be used as a synonym for sportspeople in general, but the word has strong connotations of people who compete in team sports, as contrasted with other sporting types such as horse riding and driving. For example, a fisherman may be called a sportsman, but not an athlete. In British English (as well as other variants in the Commonwealth) athlete can also have a more specific meaning of people who compete in traditional athletics (track and field) events.

1. ↑ Oxford Learner's Dictionary, Sportsman Archived 2012-10-18 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved 2012-8-3.
2. ↑ "Prince Bertil, 84, Swedish Sportsman," New York Times. January 7, 1997; retrieved 2012-8-3.
3. ↑ Cambridge Dictionaries Online, Sportsman; retrieved 2012-8-3.
4. ↑ SportsReference.com (SR/Olympics), Tsunekazu Takeda Archived 2020-04-17 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved 2012-8-3.
5. ↑ Reuters.com, "Olympics-Japan chief Takeda elected to IOC," Archived 2013-06-30 at Archive.today July 27, 2012; retrieved 2012-8-3.
6. ↑ Olympic.org, "IOC Session votes on new members and Executive Board positions"; retrieved 2012-8-3.
7. ↑ Safesport.com, "From Amateur to Professional Sportsman"; retrieved 2012-8-3.
8. ↑ World Chess Federation, "Women's World Champion Yifan Hou - Sportsperson of the Year in China," 18 January 2011; retrieved 2012-8-3.