Abstract: The object of this research is the sport as a sociocultural phenomenon at the current stage of social development. In today’s world, the sport sphere is considered an autonomous part of social sphere, multifaceted sociocultural and political phenomenon. The object of this research is the specificity of modern sport, particularly the clarification of leading functions of sport activity in the Russian realities. Attention is focused on the differences between the concepts of “sport” and “non-sport”, “sport” and “physical culture”; understanding of sport in a narrow and broad sense; as well as legal framework of the physical and sport activity. The article applies the theoretical-methodological analysis, generalization of the scientific and educational materials, alongside system approach towards examination of interconditionality of sport and politics, positive and negative moments of their interaction. The scientific novelty consists in substantiation of studying sport as a historically established in form of special competitive activity and sport practice sociocultural phenomenon, which contributes to harmonious development of the natural and socially-transformative psychophysiological qualities of motion activity and ethical-moral characteristics of a person that define his sport activity.