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Did Daredevil Invent Parkour?

By Hervé St-Louis
December 17, 2009 - 00:29

A friend of mine is a parkour adept. When the weather permits, he goes downtown with other buddies and engage in a serious parkour session. Parkour is that freefloating acrobatic sport created in the French suburbs by disgruntled immigrants' kids where they jumps on roofs, climbs walls and races against obstacles in a graceful way, adapting their bodies to whatever their urban environment sticks in front of them.

Parkour has been very popular and has spread beyond France to places like the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and even in Africa. The villain in first part of the rebooted James Bond movie, Casino Royal was a traceur. A traceur is a parkour adept.

There are many parkour styles. Even dumping every similar sports under parkpour could earn me the ire of some experts. But I can't help notice how parkour is so similar to how Daredevil jumps around on roofs and obstacles in his environment. Seriously, parkour was even studied by the British military as a way of providing extra training to some of their elite troops in urban settings. Perhaps the first kids who dreamt of parkour were reading Daredevil comic books and hoping they could escape from their dreadful world just like the man without fear.

Last Updated: November 10, 2023 - 14:53