COMPETITIVENESS AND AGONALITY IN MODERN SPORTS

The relevance of the research is associated with negative trends in modern sports: a departure from the ethical principles of fair play, the commercialization of sports and its transformation into an instrument of political influence. The article is devoted to the analysis of intuitively similar, but different in content concepts related to sports activities and underlying ethical principles. The purpose of the article is a semantic analysis of the concepts of “competitiveness” and “agonality”. The material for the study was scientific and methodological publications on the topic of the study, available in the public domain. The lexico-semantic method was used in the analysis of the material. The results of the study showed that these concepts differ significantly from each other. Thus, competitiveness defines the essence of sport as, first of all, competitive activity, and ensures the achievement of the maximum possible sports results. Competitiveness can be considered as a principle of organization of competitive activity, providing for equality of starting opportunities of competitors. Agonality is understood as a competition organized according to certain rules, based on one’s own worldview, realizing a competitive desire in a person and having a non-gaming character. It is the latter that makes this concept not applicable to the characteristics of modern sports, one of the characteristics of which is entertainment. Scope of application of the results: understanding the essence of the concepts considered makes it possible to better understand the principles, mechanisms and content of sports activity.