What is a sport?

Just reading some of the posts about chess in the Olympics, and it got me thinking. I've always thought events (such as gymnastics, surfing, ice skating, etc.) where the performance was based on a judgement are not sports. Sports are those events where there are clear results - someone is faster, stronger, etc.
Now, I don't have a bias against the former - in fact, I love surfing myself.
I just can't see how you can justify them as sports - and in the case of gymnastics or diving foir example, Olympic sports.

Any thoughts?

In my opinion, a 'sport', in addition to being competitive and requiring special athletic abilities, should also involve a direct head-to-head competition between the competitors in which the performance of one competitor directly affects or influences the performance of the other.

In football, for instance, you have an offensive team trying to score, and a defensive team trying to prevent a score... that's direct, head-to-head competition on the same field at the same time.

Also, in a sport, a competitor/team should have their own destiny in their own hands, when it comes to the outcome of the competition... i.e. if the Falcons don't play well and don't match the intensity of the Saints, they'll probably lose.

In events such as figure skating, gymnastics, surfing, or even cheerleading, the teams (or individuals) really have no control over the outcome of the competition... they go out their and perform as individuals, the rest is up to the judges. There's no one else out there that is physically trying to prevent them from performing their tasks... likewise, they can't do anything about affecting the performance of OTHER teams or individuals in these types of events...

Of course, I think we can all agree that surfing, figure skating and gymnastics do require incredible amounts of dedication, discipline, athletic ability, etc. in order to become world class (or even just to be good at it). But I would put these types of events more in the "competition" category than a true "sport".

The question of whether or not chess was a sport was raised in another thread in the Help Forum and I made the comment thatthat the line between sports and games, and that of exercise and play is nebulus. Games are often redefined as sports when they involve particularly skilled participants, which gives them appeal to non-participants.

Similarly, play is usually understood as less purposeful activity, but can become more like a game or sport as it conforms more to external rules or patterns of behaviour. Exercise or training is action to develop skill or ability, and may be a forerunner of both sport and games.

I suppose if I were to look for characteristics that define a sport I would consider the following:

1) The exercise of a useful skill in a recreational manner (that is not related to a vocation). This can be broken down into physical sports, that use characteristics such as strength, stamina, speed, dexterity and other skills and other recreational pursuits that use more cerebral skills.

2) It conforms to a set of rules for the activity while aiming to attain excellence. By excellence I am referring is ameasurement against previous benchmarks, time measurements, performance, world records, etc.

Originally posted by STRATOSPH3R3
The question of whether or not chess was a sport was raised in another thread in the Help Forum and I made the comment thatthat the line between sports and games, and that of exercise and play is nebulus. Games are often redefined as sports when they involve particularly skilled participants, which gives them appeal to non-participants.

Similarly, p ...[text shortened]... is ameasurement against previous benchmarks, time measurements, performance, world records, etc.

All 'judged' sports should be eliminated from the olympics