FIG President Morinari Watanabe has no immediate desire to see parkour in the Olympic Games ©Hurricane-UrbanSportsSummit

International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) President Morinari Watanabe claims that sealing parkour's inclusion in the Olympic Games is not an aim for the governing body.

The first FIG Parkour World Cup is taking place here at FISE Montpellier, with Watanabe more interested in developing this event before looking towards the Games.

Urban sports festival FISE is key for the World Cup as it hosted the first edition of the event in 2018 when the discipline was recognised by FIG.

"Parkour has a big potential for its development but we are not focused on the Olympics," Watanabe told insidethegames.

"Football, what is their goal?

"To go to the Olympic Games, no.

"Their World Cup is the number one priority when it comes to a sporting event.

"Parkour is the same.

"It has the potential to fight with football, I think.

"If one day it becomes an Olympic sport we will be very happy but this is not our goal, parkour's goal is to challenge football."

The first FIG Parkour World Cup took place at FISE Montpellier in 2018 and is the focus for Morinari Watanabe ©FISE
The first FIG Parkour World Cup took place at FISE Montpellier in 2018 and is the focus for Morinari Watanabe ©FISE

Whether or not Parkour Earth's influence has impacted FIG's Olympic ambitions remains a secret.

The United Kingdom-based group claim to be "the International Federation for Parkour, Freerunning, and Art du Déplacement".

It strongly resisted FIG's governance takeover of the sport and urged members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to vote against it being added to the Tokyo 2020 programme and beyond. 

Watanabe maintains that unity is better for parkour, and with his organisation holding more financial power than any other claimants to parkour's governance its development is indefinitely under its control.

Parkour Earth claim to be the worldwide governing body for the sport and had urged IOC members to block it being added to the Olympic programme for Tokyo 2020 ©Parkour Earth
Parkour Earth claim to be the worldwide governing body for the sport and had urged IOC members to block it being added to the Olympic programme for Tokyo 2020 ©Parkour Earth

"Who can say football is my sport?" Watanabe, an IOC member, said.

"Who can say basketball is my sport?

"Sport is for everybody.

"This is the FIG's philosophy, we want to be an organiser of competition to help educate the children by our system.

"This is our parkour, but if somebody wants to make another parkour body we respect it.

"I don't know why they are against it.

"If there is a brotherhood of parkour, we must respect each other to grow parkour in the world."

Urban sports are experiencing adoption by the IOC as skateboarding, BMX freestyle, sport climbing, and breaking all either debuted at Tokyo 2020 or will appear for the first time at Paris 2024.

Watanabe has no intention of rushing the discipline into the Games to try to capitalise on this before it is ready.