Parkour and the Olympics: Why the sport would be fitting in Paris 2024

As the final torchbearer parkours around the city of lights during the 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony, curious viewers started wondering whether parkour is an Olympic sport.

It’s not. However, parkour’s origin is in France, and that is why the Assassin’s Creed-esque torchbearer is showing off the moves during the Parade of Athletes on Friday.

The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) attempted to include parkour as one of the new sports at the Paris Olympics, but the International Olympic Committee ultimately decided against including the street-running sport, NBC Sports reported.

Parkour’s Origin

Organizers of the sport of parkour, The Parkour Earth, don’t actually want the sport to be included in the Olympics because they say they oppose FIG’s “hostile takeover” of the sport. It’s still possible in the future that parkour will become an Olympic sport.

It would have been fitting had parkour been included because modern-day parkour was developed in the 1990s in Paris.

David Belle, the son of a Parisian firefighter, developed the concept of the sport, according to FIG.

Belle and his teenage friends would practice jumping and climbing over city structures. The practice eventually developed into an art of movement through natural obstacles. It then became more popular through its inclusion in movies.

In the sport of parkour, there are two disciplines: speed and freerunning.