Sebastien-Foucan

Though Sébastien Foucan states in Jump London that "le parkour has always existed, free running has always been there, the thing is that no one gave it a name, we didn't put it in the box," there are certain precedents in modern history. Hollywood stars and stuntmen such as Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., John Ciampa and Buster Keaton captured parkour-like moves on film as early as the 1920–40s (much later followed by Jackie Chan). In Eastern martial arts such as ninjutsu and qing gong, movements similar to those of parkour have been taught for centuries and with a similar aim.

In Western Europe, a forerunner of parkour was French naval officer Georges Hébert, who before World War I promoted athletic skill based on the models of indigenous tribes he had met in Africa.^[6] He noted, "their bodies were splendid, flexible, nimble, skillful, enduring, and resistant but yet they had no other tutor in gymnastics but their lives in nature." ^[6] His rescue efforts during the 1902 eruption of Mount Peléeon Saint-Pierre, Martinique, reinforced his belief that athletic skill must be combined with courage and altruism.^[6] Hébert became a physical education tutor at the college of Reims in France. Hébert set up a "méthode naturelle" (natural method) session consisting of ten fundamental groups: walking, running, jumping, quadrupedal movement, climbing, balancing, throwing, lifting, self-defense, swimming, which are part of three main forces:^[7] During World War I and World War II, Hébert's teaching continued to expand, becoming the standard system of French military education and training. Thus, Hébert was one of the proponents of "parcours", an obstacle course,^[8] which is standard in the military training and led to the development of civilian fitness trails and confidence courses.^[6]

Further impetus came from the David and Raymond Belle, both of whom were active as fitness promoters—Raymond for the French fire service and David for more individual purposes; he went on to found the group the Yamakasi.^[9][10]