Believe it or not, there’s a rich history of applying philosophical principles to sport. In fact, Professor Stephen Mumford, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, focuses on exactly that in his latest book, Watching Sport.

And the greatest show on earth — the Olympic Games — is no exception.

“The Olympics is something that we watch just for the sake of sport,” explains Professor Mumford. “I think the reason the Olympics is interesting is that there’s an ethos to it that people buy into.

“If you compare it with the World Cup, most of us who watch it are just rooting for one team. I think the Olympics is one of the occasions when people are usually watching sport purely for the aesthetic beauty that gets produced; where we’re often not so much bothered by who wins and loses.”

In his book, Professor Mumford differentiates between purists and partisans. Purists simply appreciate sport in general and the overall performance of athletes. While on the other hand, for partisans, it’s all about their team getting that all-important win.

“The Olympics is the case where more people are going to be watching as purists,” explains Professor Mumford. “So if you watch something like gymnastics — which is an aesthetically rich sport — the UK doesn’t have a great history in it, but nevertheless we love it as a sport even though there isn’t one of our own athletes in there competing.

“We’re not just watching to see our athlete win, we’re watching for broadly aesthetic reasons. And I think that gets more to the essence of sport: of what it’s all about.”

So, in terms of the Olympics, what’s a good example of philosophy coming into play? Professor Mumford — as outlined in Watching Sports — likes the example of Ben Johnson’s gold-winning performance in the 100 metres at the Seoul Games in 1988. It was record-breaking, awe inspiring… and drug-fuelled.

“One of the main themes of the book is the interplay between morality and aesthetics,” explains Prof Mumford. “What was interesting in the Ben Johnson case was that we thought for a couple of days he’d run one of the most beautiful races of all time — because it took a couple of days for the drug tests to reveal that he’d actually cheated.

“Now once he’d done that, which was a moral defect, it then subtracted from the aesthetic beauty of the race. So the beauty of his race was undermined by the moral flaw.”

Professor Mumford believes that when it comes to sport it’s important to remember the joy of it — and not let it be about money, medals and underhanded tactics.

“Look at Eric Cantona — he retired early,” says Prof Mumford. “If an athlete realises that they’re playing not because they love the sport but for money, that’s when all the joy goes from it. You have to be a very brave man to do what Eric Cantona did — to walk away from all the riches he could’ve earned.

“But I understand it,” he adds. “That’s when I’m truly alive, when I’m exercising my mental and physical powers — and it’s pleasurable to do so. So if you look at school kids, they’ll run around in the playground, not for any particular purpose, but purely for the joy of running around.

“It’s joyful to have a healthy body, to jump, to run, to do skilful movements, to throw — these all make us feel like we’re alive.”