Athlete?

 What is an Athlete?

Social media has skewed my idea of being an Athlete is. With major and minor “fitness” companies circulating the word Athlete for their sponsored personnel who are seen to be hulking monsters of mass, low body fat all year round specimens, or both being labeled under the term Athlete. This is not a to bash the gym-goers who attain amazing physiques by training endlessly in and out the gym by ascertaining to diets which vary throughout their season and training which has to be done both in a fuled or depleted state.

However, what is the classification of an athlete, and should bodybuilders and physique models be classified as such?

Definition of Athlete as given by:

Merriam Webster Dictionary: 'a person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina.’

Oxford Languages (first search on google): ‘a person who is proficient in sports and other forms of physical exercise.’

With these definitions in mind, would mean any person who participates in sports is an athlete? However, you wouldn’t hear the local Joe or Jill who plays the occasional tennis or five-a-side football state that they are an “Athlete”. Furthermore, the definition would state that Darts players are in fact Athletes too, which when you think of what an athlete looks like, it is somewhat counterintuitive of what comes to mind when we use the word Athlete. Even with the current rise in e-Sports, and calling gamers Athletes for having incredible reaction speed, reflexes, and mental durability under pressure, which would be seen in Athletes who partake in sports that take place out in the fields and on the pitches.

So, from bodybuilders to dart throwers, to gamers…what can define an Athlete as? 

Depending on who you ask and in what context, the word Athlete is subjected to internal and external bias and is just based on the opinion of who you ask.

Now some food for thought…are athletes and sportist the same thing?