Parkour at the Olympics
No, it is not part of the Olympics, not yet anyway. It might be a long shot, but there has been a push for parkour to be included in the Olympic Games program. There has been an obvious recent drive to include urban sports that appeal to the younger generation, such as skateboarding, surfing, and 3x3 basketball, and parkour would easily fit into that group.
parkour - urban gymnastics Parkour is becoming increasingly popular around the world. It is not an organized sport, and that is part of the problem. The international gymnastics federation had a push for parkour to be included in the Paris Games in 2024. However, it may not be up to them. There is a feud over who governs the sport. In addition to the gymnastics federation FIG, there is also the World Freerunning Parkour Federation and Parkour Earth. Who controls the sport may need to be sorted before it has a chance of making it onto the Olympics program.
At the moment, parkour is mostly an activity people do for fun. Turning that into a competitive sport may not be what everyone wants to do. Aligning the sport with gymnastics makes sense, as a similar scoring system can be used. Parkour athletes can perform timed runs on a course where they are free to display their skills and abilities, and then a panel of judges award scores accordingly.
Freerunning is a version of parkour that may be better suited to competition, as it involves the addition of gymnastics moves for aesthetic purposes. Already, parkour has been included in the program for the 2022 World Games, which is a good test run for possible future inclusion into the Olympic Games.
Has it already been at the Olympics? Someone with a keen eye may remember that there was a parkour segment as part of the Rio opening ceremony.
Related Pages
- About the sports of Parkour & Freerunning
- POLL: Which sport should be next included in the Olympic Games? (parkour was not even an option!)
- List of Possible Future Olympic Games Sports
- Current list of Olympic Sports
Any comments, suggestions, or corrections? Please let us know.
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