Author: Yann Daout (Boardmember) – 24. June 2026

Swiss Olympic Blogpost

Earlier this year, SPKA applied to become a member of Swiss Olympic. Swiss Olympic is the umbrella organisation for sport in Switzerland, and serves as the National Olympic Committee. Becoming a member is of huge importance to be on an equal standing with other sport federations and take part in decisions regarding Swiss sport. It also opens some direct and indirect sources of funding. Funding sources from cities and cantons often require the stamp of approval of Swiss Olympic, and in the past numerous parkour associations have seen their application for funding rejected because SPKA is not a member of Swiss Olympic.

The criteria 

To become a member of Swiss Olympic, an organisation must fit a few criteria. As shown in the Swiss Olympic Application Project, we fit all the criteria to become a member, with quite a good margin.

So why would it be a challenge to become a member of Swiss Olympic? 

The voting system

In order to become a member of Swiss Olympic, we need to be voted in. This vote will happen at the General Meeting of Swiss Olympic, on the 20th November 2026. To get admitted, we need 2/3 of the cast votes in our favor. The voters are the members of Swiss Olympic. This is a system of cooptation: those who are already in decide who can come in. Those who are out have no power and no say. In fact, it is usually the case that applicants are not even in the room when the vote happens ! 

This means that the Swiss Gymnastics Federation (STV) will be among those who decide if we can join or not. If you have followed the parkour scene for the last decade, you know why this is a problem. Gymnastics has been trying to appropriate parkour worldwide since 2017. In Switzerland, they have notably tried to dissuade us from being in charge of the Youth+Sport (J+S) Parkour. In the end, we have been responsible for leading and developing the project and J+S Parkour has become a major success. STV has not made any significant contribution to this project since at least 2023. Right now, there’s not a single J+S Parkour Expert outside of SPKA members. It is therefore legitimate to ask how the project would have evolved if STV had been able to prevent us from taking the lead in its development. 

Challenges and opportunities 

Recently, there has been a case that looks a bit like ours, at least superficially. Swiss Padel applied in 2025, in the face of opposition from Swiss Tennis. Their application was rejected. There are vast differences between their case and ours though. According to Swiss Tennis, their members and partners own most of the padel infrastructure in Switzerland. Of course, this is not the case for STV. They own no infrastructure, have no expertise, and have put very little ressources into parkour in the past. Swiss Tennis includes padel in their statutes, STV’s doesn’t include parkour. Swiss Tennis argues there is a tendency in Europe for tennis and padel federations to merge; this is not the case for parkour (the only documented case, in Belgium, was a disaster1). We could also mention that SPKA is already running a J+S program, while nothing of the sort exists for padel. 

Let’s also look at what could be gained or lost at the international level. The last public statement available states that the International Gymnastics Federation (now called World Gymnastics) is not aiming for parkour inclusion in the olympics2. And sure, we might say that they’re trying to build towards that. But let’s look at the numbers. According to the FIG world rankings, the number of nations that participate in their international competitions have stayed stable, or even declined a little since they started running them. Where are the signs that they are building a system that is actually going somewhere ? 

Meanwhile, Parkour Earth has 14 national members and is growing. We’re competing against one of the most powerful sport organisation in the world, a federation that has existed for over a century… and still the comparison doesn’t work against us. There are no “synergies” to gain from merging with gymnastics, neither in Switzerland nor internationally.

Cultural appropriation 

Cultural appropriation happens when the cultural product of a group is used or appropriated by outsiders of this group. This applies very clearly to our situation. Parkour is obviously not a product of gymnastics3. 

Here’s a quote from the president of WG, who also is a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC): 

“Who can say football is my sport? Who can say basketball is my sport? Sport is for everybody. […] This is our parkour, but if somebody wants to make another parkour body we respect it.”4 

This is a clear attempt to manipulate the public opinion — you. He knows exactly how the international sport system works. As a general principle, the system is built on monopolies, where there is a single federation for each sport, that governs how that sport is organized, and structures who is considered a legitimate source of expertise and who gets funding. Who can say basketball is my sport ? Well, it’s easy, just look at the statutes of Swiss Basketball:

“Swiss Basketball is the sole governing body for basketball in Switzerland. It is recognised as such by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and Swiss Olympic.”5 (Statutes of Swiss Basketball, art. 1.2) 

It is embedded in the very structure of these organisations that there is a sole governing body for each sport. And remember that the organisations that are already in the system have the power to exclude those who are out: even though there is a clear conflict of interest, STV can vote on whether SPKA can become a member of Swiss Olympic. 

As I have argued elsewhere6, this structure of the sport system amplifies the prejudices caused by cultural appropriation. SPKA was created to prevent this cultural appropriation. We are still committed to this goal, and becoming a member of Swiss Olympic is the only way of achieving this. 

What you can do 

If you know anybody working in a Swiss sport federation, let us know ! It is important that the people who vote on our application at least know what SPKA is, and what we’ve been up to these last few years. And of course, please share this post!

Footnotes
  1. https://traces.info/blog/parkour-et-gymnastique-une-relation-heureuse/  ↩︎
  2. https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/morinari-watanabe-parkour-olympics-fise ↩︎
  3. As a cultural product, parkour involves not only the parkour moves, but also games, exercises, modes of practise, video production, events, knowledge about spots or equipment, rituals, cultural codes and etiquette, a vocabulary, discourses on the practice, and even organisationnal infrastructure ranging from small informal teams or groups of friends to national federations.  ↩︎
  4. https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/morinari-watanabe-parkour-olympics-fise ↩︎
  5. “Swiss Basketball est l’unique autorité compétente en matière de basketball en Suisse. Elle est reconnue à ce titre par la Fédération Internationale de Basketball (FIBA) et Swiss Olympic.”  ↩︎
  6. Among others, you can read https://traces.info/blog/l-appropriation-du-parkour/ and https://traces.info/blog/le-sport-favorise-les-appropriations-culturelles/ ↩︎