Parkour, the video-friendly sport in which daredevils race over rooftops, flip over ledges and climb walls without assistance or equipment, has always felt a little different. Its freewheeling ethos makes it stand out from other sports, and that perception is encouraged by its fans, athletes and organizers.
But as the sport’s popularity has increased since its emergence in the late 1980s, it has become more organized. And with the lure of a major leap in legitimacy on the horizon, the sport has been drawn into an intramural feud over who governs the acts of spinning, twirling athletes spectacularly catapulting themselves through an urban landscape.