History
Savate — "old shoe" in French — began as a street-fighting style with the feet in 19th-century France. Michel Casseux opened one of the first schools, and in the 1830s his student Charles Lecour added the punches of English boxing, creating "boxe française".
Joseph Charlemont and his son Charles organised the method and its rules at the end of the century. Savate was a demonstration sport at the Paris 1924 Olympics. Fighters wear special shoes and kick with them, a rare feature among kickboxing styles.