Популярність єдиноборств в Україні

Abstract

Purpose: to analyze the trends in the popularity of Olympic martial arts in Ukraine in recent years. Material and Methods. The following methods were used in the study: analysis of scientific and methodological literature and Internet sources, analysis of data from open information systems, methods of mathematical statistics. The database of the Google Trends web application (trends.google.com) was used to determine the popularity of sports in Ukraine and the world. The data was obtained for the last five years, from February 2018 to February 2023. Only certain types of martial arts were considered, whose athletes were represented at the XXXII Summer Olympic Games held in Tokyo in 2021. The list included the following sports: wrestling (freestyle, women's, Greco-Roman), boxing, judo, karate, and fencing. Results: preliminary analysis showed that boxing is many times more popular than other martial arts. The number of queries related to boxing is 6-8 times higher than the number of queries related to karate, judo or wrestling. In 2020, O. Usyk moved up to the heavyweight division, and his fight with Dereck Chisora in 2021 was one of the most anticipated events in the boxing world. Over the past 5 years, Ukraine has seen a certain popularity of martial arts such as wrestling, fencing, judo, and karate. According to Google Trends, Ukrainians' interest in wrestling has declined slightly. The most popular queries were related to athletes and their achievements, as well as women's wrestling. Important events in the world of wrestling were the Olympic Games, the World and European Championships, where Ukrainian athletes performed well. The period 03.2018-02.2020 compared to the period 07.2020-02.2022 shows a higher level of popularity of all four types of martial arts, with the largest difference in karate - by 83 %. The period 03.2020-06.2020 is the period (the period of quarantine restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic) when there was a decline in the popularity of all four martial arts, and the largest decline was in wrestling - by 50 %. The period 03.2022-02.2023 compared to the entire period (03.2018-02.2023) shows that all types of martial arts are experiencing a decline in popularity, with wrestling and judo experiencing the largest decline in popularity. Conclusions. The results show that the level of popularity of martial arts in Ukraine has fluctuated over the past 5 years. The most popular martial arts in Ukraine are karate and wrestling, while fencing and judo are less popular. It can also be seen that the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the level of popularity of martial arts in Ukraine, reducing their popularity in March-June 2020, and the introduction of martial law in Ukraine has also had a significant negative impact.