Britain Officially Recognizes Parkour as a Sport
- 2017-02-08
- Reuters
Britain has become the first country officially to recognize Parkour as a sport after approval by the four Home Country Sports Councils was confirmed on Tuesday.
"This is brilliant recognition for a discipline that started off as child’s play with my friends almost 30 years ago," said Sebastien Foucan, the president of Parkour UK, in a statement.
Parkour, which involves running, climbing and jumping acrobatically around buildings and over terrain, was founded in France in the 1980s as Art du Deplacement -- later taking its name from the French word 'parcours' (course or route).
The recognition by Sport England, sportscotland, Sport Wales and Sport Northern Ireland means Parkour UK becomes the official national governing body and can apply for lottery and state funding to support development.