Russian Climbing Video -- Parkour

I found this two years ago and was very impressed.
Now I can embed it, so I'm running it again. I don't know much about it other than what's obvious. Scares the fool out of me every time I see it.



I recall a few months a couple of years ago some kid got killed jumping decks on a parking garage. Via Google I learn that deer have done the same thing.Wierd. Really wierd.

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Wikipedia article Parkour...

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Parkour is an activity that is very difficult to categorize. It is definitely not an extreme sport, but a discipline that resembles martial arts. However, most traceurs are content to simply put parkour in its own category: "Parkour is parkour".
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The most characteristic aspect of parkour is efficiency. The basic meaning of this is that a traceur must not merely move as fast as they can, but move in a way that is the least energy-consuming and simultaneously the most direct. In addition, since parkour's motto is être et durer (to be and to last), efficiency also involves avoiding injuries, short-term or long-term.

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According to founder David Belle, the spirit of parkour is guided in part by the notions of "escape" and "reach", that is, the idea of using physical agility and quick thinking to get out of difficult situations, and to be able to go anywhere that one desires.

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More at the link.

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Updated March 1, 2007

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Google Video provides a fifty-minute documentary on parkour from the BBC.

A Parkour documentary in which a group of traceurs travel around Britain to find the best spots. Traceurs including: Sebastien Foucan, and the UrbanFreeFlow team.

According to this piece, the French traceurs present a gold standard, but the form is spreading...

Here's the documentary Google Video direct link.
And here's the link for the first screen.
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For some reason embedded Google Videos are much more difficult to handle than those from You Tube. You would think that with Google having Blogger and You Tube as a wholly-owned subsidiaries they could make their own videos work as well as those of the former competitor.
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Before I added this second video the first one worked beautifully.
I didn't touch a thing editing the addition.
Now they both went screwy.
Go figure.
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Here's another one, a French documentary with English subtitles.



Another Update, April 21, 2007

The New Yorker has the most comprehensive article to date about Parkour.
Thanks 3 Quarks for the link.