The agony and ecstasy of sports

Andy Murray defeated in the French Open

BBC Radio 4's Analysis: Fair Play is broadcast on Thursday 14th August at 20:30 BST and repeated on Sunday 17th August at 21.30 BST

Read the programme transcript

Sport is everywhere. Never more so than now, as images from the Olympic Games dominate our TV screens.

A large part of the nation watches it obsessively - even though Britain underperforms in events with the highest profile.

So should improving our competitiveness at top-level sport be any concern of the state?

Over the last ten years, the British Government has invested £4 billion in sport at every level and now takes it as seriously as the arts.

But what is it about sport which many find so captivating?

Former athlete Sue Campbell, who chairs UK Sport, likens it to great drama.

"Take Kelly Holmes for example. It took her 20 years to achieve her dream. She had huge moments of self-doubt. And that's story's true for everyone of us in life.

"It's a piece of theatre, it's the theatre of life."

If sport is part of our dramatic culture then Ed Smith, captain of Middlesex Cricket Club is one of its players in every sense.

He's the author of What Sport Tells Us About Life and for a top sportsman is unusually frank about his profession.

"I'm a gladiator. You know I'm wheeled out there and I'm not paid to have subtle, interesting views," he says.

"I'm a pugilist. But stepping back from that…a lot of the important things about sport aren't to do with which team wins, no. But if I started even allowing that thought into my head when I'm watching the ball, I'd probably be stretchered off."

So are we all being stretchered off mentally?

Irish journalist Joe Humphreys is the author of Foul Play: What's wrong with Sport? He argues that it generates an unintelligent approach to life.

"The fundamentalist Christian will define himself by opposition to the other… and you see the same sort of extreme language, the same sort of extreme behaviour, the lack of being able to putting things into perspective within sport."

"I heard one of the commentators talk about one million per cent which shows you how the average fan is on numbers."

But even giving one million per cent isn't enough for many British competitors, who tend to fall short, especially in the sports which really matter to people. Some point the finger of blame at the past.

Britain has a distinctive sporting history, inventing many of the world's most popular events, and the nation has a strong association with the amateur ideal of the importance of taking part.

Professor Richard Holt of De Montfort University argues that many sporting bodies "see their role as being a supreme expression of British volunteerism."

But has this tradition held us back?

Ed Smith thinks amateurism is misunderstood. "It's wrongly associated with the idea of amateurishness, which is synonymous with sloppiness...and things being done in an unprofessional manner."

"I say to the guys in my team, don't be so professional that you forget to enjoy it. That's what we're here for."

Presenter: Richard Weight
Producer: Jim Frank
Editor: Hugh Levinson

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