If the hope of a presence at the Paris Games in 2024 has come to an end, the dream still holds for 2028.

Art of movement, parkour, freerunning: the practice has several names, with a more or less artistic dimension.

And a single quest, to overcome obstacles with his body.

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It all starts with a group of teenagers in the 80s near Evry who set themselves acrobatic challenges on the concrete structures of this town in Essonne.

Their story is consecrated in a film in 2001 bearing their name, 'Yamakasi' ("strong spirit, strong man, strong body" in Zairian) followed by 'Banlieue 13' (2004).

Among the nine founding members, there are the brothers Williams and Chau Belle and their cousin David Belle but also Charles Perrière.

"It's been 30 years!" Blows AFP Perrière, now in charge of parkour within the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), to which the discipline joined in December 2018.

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"It was a way of life, we didn't differentiate between activity and sport, it was mixed. Apparently in this world, things are very structured and have to fit into boxes. So, ok we call that's a sport and we created a competitive version of our activity which at the base is not competitive at all, more oriented towards personal development", explains Perrière, who says he wants to meet the expectations "of new generations motivated by competition. ".

The gym in question

A World Cup circuit has been set up under the aegis of the FIG, based on what has been done for a few years at the highly prized International Festival of Extreme Sports (Fise).

A space, modules and notes, like skateboard park or freestyle BMX.

But tensions quickly arose between parkour purists, who felt betrayed, not recognizing themselves at all in the gym membership.

"The no is on the vision of the activity centered on performance. The FIG proclaimed itself responsible for the global activity without consulting anyone in the world, we felt a little robbed", had told the AFP Sidney Grosprêtre, one of the founders in 2011 of the French Parkour Federation (FPK), who would have liked to keep the hand but it was "David against Goliath".

Within the world of gymnastics, the inclusion of tracers - the name given to practitioners of parkour - has also not been easy, with gymnasts believing that it is absolutely not gymnastics.

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Result of the races: parkour failed to become an Olympic event at the Paris Games in 2024.

A bad for a good

"It's a shame because we would have written a great story being in Paris, but I tell myself that it lets us mature to be legitimate when we get back there", relativizes Perrière.

"It was a disappointment. I know the stakes linked to this objective, there is sports politics, there were choices to be made and in the end, it's a blessing in disguise because I don't think that "We were very prepared. It's good to go back to the Olympics but the best thing is to stay there", he defends.

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Lilou Ruel, 19-year-old French parkour prodigy, supports an entry into the Olympic program.

"It's a good thing that we are not at the Games in Paris, we were not ready to coexist with gymnastics. 2028 is the right year", pleads the Toulousaine, considering that "a lot of things don't go" but grateful for the efforts on the part of the Gym Federation.

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Perrière strongly believes in this marriage.

To transmit to as many people as possible the "values ​​of parkour that we need in everyday life: to surpass ourselves, courage".

© 2022 AFP