Parkour

"Parcours" redirects here. For the term used in cycle racing, see Glossary of cycling § P.

Parkour
An athlete performing parkour
Also known asPK[1][2][3]
FocusObstacle passing
Country of originFrance
Date of formation1980s in the Normandy region of France[4][5]
Creator
Olympic sportNot currently; IOC discussions underway[6]

Parkour (French: [paʁkuʁ]) is an athletic training discipline or sport in which practitioners (called traceurs) attempt to get from one point to another in the fastest and most efficient way possible, without assisting equipment and often while performing feats of acrobatics.[7] With roots in military obstacle course training and martial arts, parkour includes flipping, running, climbing, swinging, vaulting, jumping, plyometrics, rolling, and quadrupedal movement—whatever is suitable for a given situation.[8][9] Parkour is an activity that can be practiced alone or with others, and is usually carried out in urban spaces, though it can be done anywhere.[10][11] It involves seeing one's environment in a new way, and envisioning the potential for navigating it by movement around, across, through, over and under its features.[12][13]

Although a traceur may perform a flip as well as other aesthetic acrobatic movements, these are not essential to the discipline.[14] Rather, they are central to freerunning, a discipline derived from parkour but emphasising artistry rather than efficiency.

Parkour was established by David Belle in the 1980s, and it was initially called l'art du déplacement;[15][16][17] however the name "le parcours" had already been given to the activity by 1989.[5] The discipline was popularised in the 1990s and 2000s through films, documentaries, video games, and advertisements.[15][18][19] Similar techniques were known from French military obstacle courses,[15] and some authors see influence from Hong Kong cinema and Asian martial arts in Parkour.[20][21]

  1. ^ "Actor David Belle Biography". David Belle. Archived from the original on 20 October 2014. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  2. ^ "3RUN Story". 3run.co.uk. 6 December 2012. Archived from the original on 6 March 2014. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  3. ^ "About the Tapp Brothers". LearnMoreParkour.com. Archived from the original on 31 March 2014. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference BritishBroadcasting was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Gerlung was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Parkour – A Young Sport with Olympic Ambitions". European Olympic Committees. 24 August 2016. Archived from the original on 26 October 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  7. ^ "parkour". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d.
  8. ^ Ferrari, Matthew (7 May 2010). "From 'Play to Display': Parkour as Media-Mimetics or Nature Reclamation?". FlowTV, vol 11, lokaliseret den 01-04-2011 på. Archived from the original on 5 November 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  9. ^ De Feitas, Elizabeth (2011). "Parkour and the Built Environment: Spatial Practices and the Plasticity of School Buildings". Journal of Curriculum Theorizing. 27 (3): 209. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  10. ^ Rawlinson, Christopher; Guaralda, Mirko (11 September 2012). "Chaos and creativity of play: designing emotional engagement in public spaces". In Out of Control: 8th International Conference on Design and Emotion. Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design, London. ISBN 9780957071926. Archived from the original on 14 May 2013. Retrieved 16 March 2013.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  11. ^ Brunner, C. (2010). "Nice-looking obstacles: Parkour as urban practice of deterritorialization" (PDF). AI & Society. 26 (2): 143–152. doi:10.1007/s00146-010-0294-2. ISSN 0951-5666. S2CID 11017425. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 August 2020. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  12. ^ Rawlinson, Christopher; Guaralda, Mirko (27 April 2011), "Play in the city: Parkour and architecture", The First International Postgraduate Conference on Engineering, Designing and Developing the Built Environment for Sustainable Wellbeing, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia, ISBN 9780980582741, archived from the original on 14 May 2013, retrieved 16 March 2013{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  13. ^ Ameel, L.; Tani, S. (2012). "Everyday aesthetics in action: Parkour Eyes and the beauty of concrete walls". Emotion, Space and Society. 5 (3): 164–173. doi:10.1016/j.emospa.2011.09.003.
  14. ^ Kidder, Jeffrey (2017). Parkour and the City. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. p. 146. ISBN 978-0813571980. "flips: ... "However they are usually designated as a part of freerunning, not of Parkour."
  15. ^ a b c Angel, pp. 17–20
  16. ^ "Parkour History". Parkour Generations. 22 August 2014. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  17. ^ "Interview with David Belle". YouTube. 20 January 2009. Archived from the original on 14 December 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  18. ^ Belle, David (2006). "Entrevista com David Belle (OSRAM 2006)" [Interview with David Belle (OSRAM 2006)] (Interview). Archived from the original on 8 July 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  19. ^ Atkinson, M. (2009). "Parkour, Anarcho-Environmentalism, and Poiesis". Journal of Sport & Social Issues. 33 (2): 169–194. doi:10.1177/0193723509332582. S2CID 146783270.
  20. ^ Cite error: The named reference Stratford was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  21. ^ Cite error: The named reference Angel was invoked but never defined (see the help page).