New Professionals

New Professionals
▪ 1996

      During 1995 more of the traditional barriers in sports between amateurs and professionals crumbled beneath the weight of commercial pressure. Chief among the sports to profit, or suffer, whichever way one looked at it, was Rugby Union. The World Cup in South Africa effectively marked the end of an era characterized by the old-fashioned idea that games should be played for fun. In truth, such countries as New Zealand, Australia, and France had been paying their players for years, and so, for all the cries of the diehards that the game would never be the same, the advent of professionalism was merely a recognition of the status quo, at least at the international level.

      Conversely, tennis, one of the most lucrative of all sports, put limits on its professionalism after the well-publicized troubles experienced by the teenage prodigy and 1992 Olympic Games singles champion Jennifer Capriati, who made her debut at the age of 13 but took leave from the tour after four years. The Women's Tennis Association, which ran the women's world tour, ruled that no girl would be allowed to play in a leading tournament before her 16th birthday. The new ruling did not apply to several young players who had already made their debuts or stated their intention of doing so.

      Even the Olympic Games, which had accepted the professional basketball players of the 1992 Dream Team and the expedient reinstatement of professional figure skaters to amateur status, found it increasingly difficult to compete with the lure of money. In 1995 Ukrainian figure skater Oksana Baiul (see BIOGRAPHIES (Baiul, Oksana )), who had captured the 1993 world championship at age 15 and the Olympic gold medal less than a year later, announced that she would not seek to defend her Olympic title in 1998. The 17-year-old Baiul said she preferred the relative freedom of professional skating as much as the high fees paid for ice shows and professional competitions.

      The movement to professionalism in sports was so pervasive that 19-year-old golfer Eldrick ("Tiger") Woods attracted considerable attention during the year when he chose not to turn pro after winning his second U.S. amateur championship. (ANDREW LONGMORE)

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Universalium. 2010.

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