Author(s): Ifeanyichukwu Christian Elendu and Mina Ibitamuno Dennis

Abstract:

Unarguably, winning should be recognized and appreciated but its over-emphasis which has extended to host-to-win and winning-at-all-cost in modern sports could be responsible for many unsportsmanship behaviours such as bribery and corruption in sports, sports violence and hooliganism, use of mercenaries in sports, match fixing, fielding of over-age athletes among others. Unsportsmanship behaviours affect the integrity, safety, security, health of sports and its participants. This issue demands serious attention from all sincere sports stakeholders. Hence, it was recommended among other things that athletes and coaches who engage in unsportsmanship behaviours to win sports competition at-all-cost should be banned for life in their respective sports and the athlete's or coach's country banned for at least 5 years. Baron Pierre de Coubertin's ideal and philosophy of Olympics which states that "The most important thing...is not winning but taking part" should be inculcated into every sports participant through seminars, workshops, and symposia.

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