 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Champion" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(July 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Achampion (from the late Latincampio) is thevictor in a challenge,contest orcompetition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world championships, and even further (artificial) divisions at one or more of these levels, as inassociation football. Their champions can be accordingly styled, e.g. national champion, world champion.
In certain disciplines, there are specific titles for champions, either descriptive, as thebaspehlivan in Turkish oil wrestling,yokozuna in Japanesesumowrestling; or copied from social hierarchies, such as thekoning andkeizer ('king' and 'emperor') in traditionalarchery competitions (not just national, also at lower levels) in the Low Countries.
The original meaning of the word partakes of both these senses: in theFeudal Era,knights were expected to be champions andparagons of both prowess in combat and of causes, the latter most commonly being either patriotic, romantic or religious in nature (thus becoming models of virtue). This reaches its most literal meaning in atrial by combat, in which each combatant champions the cause of one side of the trial. A "King's Champion" is appointed for ceremonial purposes at the coronation of an English Monarch, to defeat any challenger to the monarch's right to be crowned.
Champion warfare refers to a type of battle, most commonly found in theepic poetry andmyth of ancient history, in which the outcome of the conflict is determined bysingle combat, an individualduel between the best soldiers ("champions") from each opposing army.
World champion is a title used to denote a winner of aworld championship in a particular sport (such asmixed martial arts,professional boxing orprofessional wrestling), discipline or game. Being a champion at any sport or game requires an extraordinary amount of focus, discipline, drive and complete dedication, usually from a young age.[1][2] What separates a world champion from the average competitor aside from natural ability and environmental advantages with access to the best training facilities,[3] is the ability to focus on their goal and to become the best of the best, the obsession to continually improve and mental conditioning required to focus on becoming the best in the world at their given subject.[4]
The dictionary definition ofchampion at Wiktionary