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Cave paintings found in the Lascaux caves in France appear to depict sprinting and wrestling in the Upper Paleolithic around 15,300 years ago. Cave paintings in the Bayankhongor Province of Mongolia dating back to the Neolithic age. Neolithic Rock art found at the cave of swimmers in Wadi Sura, near Gilf Kebir in Egypt shows evidence of swimming and archery being practiced around 10,000 BCE. Prehistoric cave paintings in Japan depict a sport similar to sumo wrestling.

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Various representations of wrestlers have been found on stone slabs attributed to the Sumerian civilization. One showing three pairs of wrestlers has been generally dated to around 3000 BCE. A cast bronze figurine (perhaps the base of a vase) found at Khafaji in Iraq shows two figures in a wrestling hold and dates to around 2600 BCE. Interpreted as one of the earliest depictions of sport, the statue is housed in the National Museum of Iraq. Archeology has also found early suggestions pointing to the sport of boxing in ancient Sumer.

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Monuments to the Pharaohs found at Beni Hasan dating to around 2000 BCE indicate that a number of sports, including wrestling, weightlifting, long jump, swimming, rowing, archery, fishing and athletics, as well as various kinds of ball games, were well-developed and regulated in ancient Egypt. Other Egyptian sports also included javelin throwing and high jump. An earlier portrayal of figures wrestling was found in the tomb of Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum in Saqqara dating to around 2400 BCE.

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Greece is the home of the Olympic Games. The sport has been popular here since the ancient city-states. The importance of sports in Greece is evidenced by the fact that all wars between Greeks stopped during the Olympic Games.
It was in Greece that sports were first instituted formally, with the first Olympic Games recorded in 776 BCE in Olympia, where they were celebrated until 393 CE. These games took place every four years, or Olympiad, which became a unit of time in historical chronologies. Initially a single sprinting event, the Olympics gradually expanded to include several footraces, run in the nude or in armor, boxing, wrestling, pankration, chariot racing, long jump, javelin throw, and discus throw.

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Chinese chronicles report that the first sprouts of physical culture that developed in the Huanghe and Yangtze valleys appeared at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. Along with ancient holidays and related customs and ceremonies, the chronicles often refer to the one written around 2698 BC. a book called "Kunfu", which for the first time systematized qualified descriptions of the various administrations of medical gymnastics, pain-relieving massage, ritual dances that heal from diseases, infertility, and martial dances that were spread among the people. According to records in the chronicles, at that time boys were raised in special institutions. Compared to the above-mentioned assumptions, there are more reliable references to the competition in the cycle of Chinese folk songs Yuefu, recorded at the beginning of the 2nd century BC. Most of the demigod heroes found in the songs subdue hostile tribes by bloodlessly defeating their chieftains in wrestling tournaments, fistfights, and war dances.

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The Middle Ages were not immediately devoid of sports from the Roman Empire after it collapsed. Gladiatorial bouts and chariot racing continued sporadically and intermittently well into the Middle Ages. They would eventually fade away and be replaced by local activities. Hawking, however, was the particular reserve of emperors and kings. This sport would be one of the few sports continued in the Middle Ages; Frederick II may have played a critical role in its persistence as he was an avid hawker who authored the first comprehensive book on falconry. Furthermore, kings may have followed the example of falconry as to mimic the status of an emperor.
During the Middle Ages, tournaments were not an uncommon occurrence; after all, war was a constant threat that could occur often. Thus, preparation (for war) is practice, practice is competition, and competition is sport; consequently, (before the establishment of sports history), the medieval hallmarks of upper-class sports (i.e. jousting, mock combat, and blood sports) were generally agreed upon as military training. Modern sports historians, however, debate that such sports were for entertainment purposes; one example considered were tournaments which offered little to prepare one for actual war and would likely have set any forms of real training back. Tournaments in the Middle Ages arose out of local festivals. As a result, many tournaments had their own local characteristic but were uniform in habits and customs of the region the tournament was stationed in.

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After the late middle ages, early modern sports became less of a violent or military training activity and more of an activity done for recreational benefit in Europe. During the Renaissance, educators, and medical surgeons promoted playing sports because of their numerous physical and psychological benefits to the human body. During this era, there was also support for moderating sports, as it was viewed as more for leisure than a strict procedure. Open-air sporting events became an attraction for many and people of all different social hierarchies were involved in this new culture.
All different types of sports became a functional unit in many people’s routines and it brought refreshment into people’s lives. As the popularity and involvement of sports increased, rules began to form and sports became more regulated so they could be fair. Sports clubs and associations which provided a sense of unity also became more common, especially for elite sports such as horse racing, cockfighting, hunting, and tennis during the sixteenth and seventeenth-centuries. For example, Charles II formed 20 rules for horse racing in 1665. Sports were a form of entertainment for spectators who did not play themselves. There were stake-money contests and prizes in these sports and racing competitions.

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The traditional team sports are seen as springing primarily from Britain, and subsequently exported across the vast British Empire. European colonialism helped spread particular games around the world, especially cricket (not directly related to baseball), football of various sorts, bowling in a number of forms, cue sports (like snooker, carom billiards, and pool), hockey and its derivatives, equestrian, and tennis, and many winter sports. The originally European-dominated modern Olympic Games generally also ensured standardization in particularly European, especially British, directions when rules for similar games around the world were merged.
Regardless of game origins, the Industrial Revolution and mass production brought increased leisure which allowed more time to engage in playing or observing (and gambling upon) spectator sports, as well as less elitism in and greater accessibility of sports of many kinds. With the advent of mass media and global communication, professionalism became prevalent in sports, and this furthered sports popularity in general.