Sports are competitive events involving physical exertion. They may involve individual or team competition and are usually run according to established rules. The participants are graded on their performance and ranked in order of success (winner or loser). The measurement of the result can be objective, as with time for running or diving, or subjective, as with judging in boxing or gymnastics. Often the grading is corrected with “handicaps” or penalties for various factors such as age, weight and gender.

The aesthetic element of sport survived into the Renaissance, but the emphasis in modern sports is on quantified achievement. This change is reflected in the semantic shift in the word measure: from one century to another, it went from connoting a sense of balance and proportion to being used almost exclusively for numerical measurements.

A successful sports article begins with an interesting, well-written lead that grabs the reader’s attention by describing a scene, introducing a player or using a quote. It should transport the reader to the game, making them feel as if they are right there in the stadium with the players and fans. The lead should also explain why the reader should care about the article. slot88