The International Parkour Federation (IPF) released a press release through Outdoor Sportswire on July 7th, 2020. In it, they not only reaffirm their independence from the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) but also claim to be “the sole competent authority for Parkour and Freerunning” despite the endeavors of the practitioner-led global federation Parkour Earth, and many other non-affiliated national governing bodies operating in the same regions.
Representatives from 50 countries unanimously established the independence of the IPF during their 2020 International Congress via Zoom after the organization had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) in January 2018. With the MoU, the IPF intended to create a collaborative platform between the two organizations to guarantee parkour’s autonomy. However, when agreed-upon terms were not met, they did not renew the MoU after it expired in April of that year.
After the community response regarding the IPF’s claim to be the sole authority for parkour, former WFPF athlete and host of Parkour & More Justin Sheaffer sat down with the IPF President, Victor Bevine, to discuss their history, former relationship with FIG, and clarify the negatively received comment’s intentions.
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Interesting
I understand how they may want to direct things toward FIG and the IOC, however, a unified message would have been infinitely more appropriate.