Pain and suffering in sport

Abstract

Pain is an authentic part of humanity. This text deals with the topic of pain within the context of sports. It compares the agon of war to the agon of sports. Here, pain is considered as a physical phenomenon, as a cultural and social construct as well as a meaningful phenomenon. Another issue addressed in this paper is how pain is presented as an authentic component of performing sports. A loss of authenticity in sports is mentioned in connection with the prevalence of injuries. Special attention is paid to the topic of death, which is understood as being a part of the horizon of pain. The last part of the article focuses on crises in professional sports and asks about the meaning of pain and suffering in sports.