Regeneracionismo del cuerpo: the arguments for implanting athletics in Spain

Abstract

Regeneracionismo was a hugely important movement within Spain in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Its adherents strove to reform and revitalize the nation, but generally failed to bring significant economic and political change. What they did succeed at was introducing sport and physical education to the country both to revitalize the nation and to modernize it by tapping into the cult of youth and the athletic body that was sweeping Europe. The mostly liberal supporters of this movement argued that to regenerate the nation you had to start with the physical capability of individual Spaniards. They argued that the nation's debilitation stemmed from physical decline since the sixteenth century. With Spain's weakness defined as a physical problem, the proponents of sport created an ‘ideal’ Spanish physical form that emphasized mobility and balance over the brute strength of northern European models. Finally, various methods of attaining this ideal Spaniard were put forth with physiological arguments. What resulted was a coherent theory that expropriated the nation's problems to promote athletics, and proved extremely successful in gaining support for the movement and introducing a new cultural activity into Spain.