If you are here but have not yet read Should Parkour Be in the Olympics? (Part 1), please click here to check it out 🙂
Yesterday (August 13th) David and I were walking around Lisses, and I decided to probe a bit further into Parkour competition. I asked him about them, and three points came out that I thought were worth emphasizing because they give more insight in David’s view and show his real vision for Parkour competitions. He said…
- Sponsors would be OK to have at Parkour competitions, but the winner shouldn’t get a lot of money or anything like that. Maybe a trip/vacation would be a good prize.
- The important thing would be to participate and be a part of it rather than winning.
- Although time is involved and there would be a winner, he thinks of a Parkour competition of a “Sports Spectacle” as much as a competition.
Now I’d like to add a few last thoughts since this was supposed to be a blog that I wrote rather than simply one where I regurgitated and clarified David’s stance.
I agree with David that Parkour could/should/would be great as an Olympic event. This was the thesis I was going to put forth even before asking him. However, because of how the Olympics work, I don’t see Parkour ever fitting in to the Games. And there are a few reasons why:
- The Olympics are steeped in tradition. You don’t see a lot of new events being let in, and action.
- Action sports of any basically non-existent in the Olympics save for snowboarding and BMX. And snowboarding isn’t as much of a new sport as it is really a new version of skiing..
- Most Olympic sports are conducted in the same way, year after year. This is part of the tradition. With the exception of slight changes to current events such as the road routes for running and biking and scoring changes in things like Gymnastics (which no longer has a perfect 10 score) there is very little dynamism in the Olympic events that presents new challenges to athletes. Because of this, Parkour with its dynamic nature doesn’t really fit into the the Games unless the IOC accepted a standard course that they never expected to change.
So should Parkour be in the Olympics? According to the founder, the answer to that question is a resounding yes. Or said another way, David would be very pleased and would support the entry of Parkour as a sport in the Olympics. Whether it ever happens is another question entirely. I, for one, hope it does.
UPDATE: I wrote this article in 2012. It’s now 7 years later, and dynamism IS coming into the Olympics. The IOC saw it was losing interest with the new generation, so it has brought in surfing and skateboarding for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo! There is no doubt this bodes well for Parkour making it into the games one day. We have a long ways to go before the sport even qualifies but that’s another discussion entirely.
