In the archaic world and long afterwards the word ‘art’ covers almost all forms of human dexterity, not merely the creative.
When Alexander the Great cut the Gordian knot he was behaving like a spoil-sport in more than one respect – flouting both the rules of the game and religion. A further digression is necessary to indicate how far competition has really contributed to the development of art. Practically all the known examples of astounding skill called forth by competition belong to mythology, legend, and literature rather than to the history of art itself. p 196: The guilds themselves are only partly the product of economics; it was not until after the eleventh century, with the revival of town life, that the corporations of artisans and traders gained the ascendant and ousted the older forms of social association based on ritual. To the very end the guild system preserved many traces of archaic play in such formalities as initiation ceremonies, speeches, badges, insignia, banquets, and carousals, etc. These, however, were gradually thrust aside by pedestrian economic interests
Anybody not knowing the age-long history of competition all over the world might be inclined to think that considerations of utility and efficiency alone inspire such forms of competitive art as survive today.