History
The Parkour adventure began in France in the 1990s, in Lisses and Evry, in the outskirts of Paris. David Belle originally developed the Parkour concept according to precepts about the art of movement laid down by his father, who was a Parisian firefighter.
As teenagers, Belle and his friends from the Yamakasi group practised jumping and climbing over stairs, barriers, walls and other fixtures in his city. Doing so, he made up what they called the art of moving, taking advantage of all the constructions and obstacles that were not originally created for this purpose.
For them, Parkour was just a kind of training method to overcome all forms of obstacles in urban and natural environments, such as forests. Since the 90s, this way of moving, popularized more by its inclusion in the film industry, like the movie Yamakasi, co-written by Charles Perrière, one of the founders of the discipline and the movie B13 with David Belle.
These films have inspired various sporting events in many countries and have created a new generation of Tracers (Parkour practitioners) around the world.
While the founders of Parkour were not keen on competition, this trend made them consider sporting events as a good showcase for raising awareness of the discipline around the world.
After initiation workshops at the Lillehammer 2016 Youth Olympic Games, led By Charles Perrière, sparked increased interest in the discipline.
David Belle and his friend Charles Perrière, sought to obtain formal recognition of Parkour to further its development.
A connection was made with the FIG, a well-established federation within the Olympic movement, whose President, Morinari Watanabe, is a great admirer of the discipline. The collaboration is a natural fit, as several national Gymnastics federations affiliated with the FIG already offer Parkour activities.
Since the FIG Executive Committee gave the green light, in February 2017, to develop the new sport, milestones have been reached at the speed of an athlete tackling an obstacle course. Parkour’s development has opened the way for the launch of a first World Cup series within the framework of the FISE (World Action Sports Festival), in 2018.