3rd Prize Stories, Sports

11 December 2020

Fereshteh Eslahi, Iran

Podium Photos

Thoughts of Flight

Saeed Ramin is a professional traceur (practitioner of parkour) living in Gachsaran, Iran. Seven years ago, Saeed fell in a parkour competition, injuring the spinal cord in his neck. The aim of parkour is to get from one point to another in complex—usually urban—environments, in the fastest way possible, by running, vaulting, swinging, climbing and all manner of other movements, sometimes in dangerous situations such as between high rooftops. Saeed’s injury when he fell was so severe that he could only blink, and doctors said he wouldn’t even be able to sit in a wheelchair. He has now regained some of his abilities, and still likes to do things other people are afraid of.