Sports are knocked because they are low-brow and middle-class. But objectively, I think sport is a performance art that is every bit as wonderful as a great ballet or concert. Memories of the great sporting performances will last for centuries. Moreover, it is unique every time.
Something tells me that no journalist would look down on somebody for giving up an Oxford education to pursue a fine arts career, but that tells you more about the shared values of journalists than the relative merits of the activities.
There weren't any then, in our sense. In those days the word sport meant hunting. The closest thing would have been prize-fighting. I believe there are some fights from that far back that are still famous among aficionados today.
There are certainly records of individuals who won at the Olympic Games, but as far as I know no descriptions of what happened. I believe the most famous athlete in the ancient world was the wrestler Milo. There are a lot of stories about him, at least some of which are contemporary:
Something tells me that no journalist would look down on somebody for giving up an Oxford education to pursue a fine arts career, but that tells you more about the shared values of journalists than the relative merits of the activities.