Liliya Zhirnova and Tamir Shakirov
There is a simple way to tell whether a society’s relationship with leisure is changing.
Look at what people do when they are not working.
Thirty-five years ago, organized sport certainly existed in Turkmenistan. Football, athletics, wrestling, cycling and traditional sports all had their followers, and physical education was part of everyday life.
But the modern concept of sport and fitness has become considerably broader.
Today, sport can mean joining a gym.
It can mean swimming.
Running.
Cycling.
Playing tennis.
Training in martial arts.
Going to a football academy.
Taking part in a fitness class.
Or simply buying a pair of running shoes and deciding to become more active.
That last example brings us back to something from the beginning of this series.
The explosion in the availability of sneakers is not merely a story about footwear.
It is partly a story about what people do with their bodies.
Modern sports facilities have expanded considerably in Turkmenistan. The Olympic Village in Ashgabat, built for the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, transformed the capital’s sporting infrastructure. Its facilities include swimming pools, indoor and outdoor sports venues, tennis courts, athletics facilities and arenas for numerous sports.
The importance of such infrastructure goes beyond elite competition.
Large sports complexes create an environment in which sport becomes more visible in ordinary life.
The same applies to the proliferation of fitness centres and private sporting facilities.
A gym is a very different institution from the traditional sports club.
A sports club may exist primarily for athletes.
A fitness centre exists for ordinary people who want to become fitter.
That distinction is important.
It represents a change from sport being something one watches or participates in competitively to sport becoming part of personal lifestyle.
The growth of cycling provides another example.
Cycling has received considerable official encouragement in Turkmenistan, including the promotion of mass cycling events and the designation of 3 June as World Bicycle Day by the United Nations following a Turkmen initiative. The country has subsequently held large cycling events, particularly in Ashgabat.
Running and walking have similarly become more visible forms of physical activity.
And the market has responded.
There are sports shoes, tracksuits, bicycles, equipment, accessories and specialized services.
Again, the consumer is not simply buying a product.
The consumer is buying into a way of life.
That is why sport belongs in a series about quality of life.
A country’s quality of life is partly determined by whether people have places to work and study.
But it is also determined by whether they have places to play.
This is especially important for urban populations.
A modern city is not merely a collection of offices, apartment blocks and roads.
It needs parks.
Sports grounds.
Swimming pools.
Gyms.
Walking areas.
Entertainment facilities.
Places where people can spend time without necessarily spending money.
The development of these spaces changes the rhythm of life.
A person can finish work and go for a run.
A family can spend an afternoon cycling.
A teenager can play football.
A child can learn to swim.
An older person can walk in a park.
None of these activities is revolutionary.
Together, however, they represent something important:
leisure has become more diversified.
And there is an interesting cultural consequence.
People increasingly think about fitness not only in terms of competition but in terms of personal wellbeing.
That changes the meaning of sport.
You don’t have to be an athlete to own sports shoes.
You don’t have to enter a competition to go to a gym.
You don’t have to win anything to go cycling.
The purpose can simply be to feel better.
Thirty-five years ago, many of today’s sporting choices either did not exist in their present form or were much less accessible.
Today they are increasingly part of the possibilities of ordinary urban life.
That is what makes them relevant to this series.
A better quality of life is not only about having more things. It is also about having more things to do. /// nCa, 22 September 2026