Abstract: The main purpose of the article is to clarify the origin of modern competitive sports replacing modern gymnastics as the main carrier of physical education curriculum. It is found that the success of the British Industrial Revolution and the disintegration of "geopolitical" societies created conditions for the civilization of competitive sports. Rugby School, which gave full play to the fun of sports, respected students' subjectivity, and adopted the joint competition system, successfully realized the transformation from mob soccer to modern football and modern rugby. In the form of after-class special courses, competitive sports became an important part of cultivating the necessary qualities of gentlemen in public schools, then the "competitive sports education" was born. With the realization of industrialization and urbanization in the late 19th century and early 20th century, the vigorous development of extracurricular competitive sports, coupled with the advancement of progressive educational thought, the "New Physical Education" ideology in the United States was thus established. "Naturalized" game, and competitive sports replacing "formal" modern gymnastics became the main carrier of physical education courses. The orientation of physical education curriculum also changed from "physical education" to "through the physical education", and the era of competitive sports as the main carrier of physical education curriculum began. Therefore, enlightenment are drawn as follows: physical education curriculum can not deviate from one's personality education; the view of curriculum as instrumentality needs to be surpassed; the inherent cultural attributes of physical movement need to be revealed.