Sport and National Pride

 K. Nishikori, Wimbleldon 2013 ( Wikimedia/D. Iliff)

This week saw a tremendous national buzz build around Japanese tennis star Kei Nishikori as he made his way to the finals at the U.S. Open; the first Japanese to do so in 96 years. To do this he defeated world #1 Novak Djokovic. Sadly for Japanese fans, Nishikori’s tennis wasn’t the best on the day, and the crown went to Croatian Narin Cillic. So game over. But the question of national pride remains. Is it important for citizens to support athletes in national competitions simply because they share the same passport?  Should the pride of a country rise and fall with the performance of its athletes? What about the Olympic Games? Is it time to tone down the nationalism?  Please log in and tell us what you think about national pride and sport.