What is the relationship between the body and sports? From Merleau-Ponty’s body phenomenology and philosophy perspective

Merleau-Ponty is the founder of modern body phenomenology. His phenomenological masterpiece Phenomenology of Perception has greatly influenced the development direction of contemporary western cognitive science. The body theory runs through the beginning and the end of its philosophical thought, adopts phenomenological method to carry on the overview of the ontology of the body theory and turns the body into the cognitive subject’s field. By means of literature and logical analysis, this paper attempts to summarize the connotation and extension of Merleau-Ponty’s body theory, describe and interpret the ontological dimension of sports from the phenomenological perspective, bring sports back to the understanding and communication of exercise itself and, thus, trigger the thinking to provide multiple reference for the development of sports in each field.