The 2024 Olympic Games in Paris are underway! We all have our favorite events, but Ms. Yarborough is especially excited about the return of sport climbing (aka rock climbing) and, in true reference librarian fashion, she is ready to help us learn all about it. She writes:
“While our SPS hip-hop fans may be getting excited for the Olympic debut of breaking, there are several “alternative” sports that debuted in the 2020 (technically 2021, we all know the reason) Tokyo Olympics that are happy to be back for a second go round: skateboarding, sport climbing (aka rock climbing), and surfing. The climbing community is particularly pleased about their return, since their events will look a little more like traditional climbing competitions this time. Let’s talk about why.
Sport climbing’s 2020 Olympic debut was mired in controversy. While climbing “dirtbags” saw the Olympics as diverting the sport into the mainstream and bemoaned the loss of climbing’s underdog identity, the majority of the climbing community railed against the combined format of the competition. For the 2020 sport climbing competition, athletes medaled based on their combined score from three events – bouldering, sport climbing, and speed climbing. The indignation was warranted – each requires completely different skill sets, they don’t use the same equipment, and, oh yeah, climbers need to perform at an Olympic level in all three in order to medal. This dubious decision was made by the International Federation of Sport Climbing when the Olympic Committee only allowed the discipline one set of medals to award. (Burgman).
Luckily, the 2024 Summer Olympics have amended the initial format, now offering two events in which climbing athletes can medal: Boulder & Lead Combined and Speed Climbing (Walsh). For folks who have never watched a climbing event before, you may wish to quickly read up on how these events are scored before settling in front of your device’s screen on Aug. 5-8 (here are the exact event times). While Speed Climbing is self-explanatory, this video on Boulder & Lead Combined rules may warrant a quick watch.
Who will I be cheering for, you ask? If I’m being honest, I only follow women’s climbing, so you’ll have to ask Dr. Cohen about the dudes, but here are my thoughts . . .
- The One to Beat: Boulder & Lead Combined → Defending her gold medal from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Janja Garnbret of Slovenia is often recognized as the greatest of all time in women’s sport climbing. The rest of the pack will all be vying to beat this eight-time IFSC World Champion to the top of the Olympic podium. Best of luck to them!
- The Ones to Beat: Speed Climbing → Poland has produced some rather magnificent speed climbers and Aleksandra Kałucka and Aleksandra Miroslaw are no exceptions. Beating out her twin in the Olympic Qualifiers, Kałucka is no stranger to the extremes of competition (Goh). Meanwhile, had the format been different in Tokyo, Miroslaw would have left the 2020 games with a gold medal in speed climbing as she broke the World Record during her Olympic debut (Smith).
Team USA
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- USA Climbing Royalty→ Brooke Raboutou was the “[f]irst U.S. climber ever to qualify for an Olympic Games” back in 2020. She pretty much started climbing around the time she learned to crawl, being the daughter of climbing champions Robyn Erbesfield-Raboutou and Didier Raboutou (“Climbing at the Olympics”). She took fifth place in the 2020 Olympics combined competition and will be looking to prove herself in the Boulder & Lead Combined event this summer.
- Pan American Champion→ Beating Raboutou, her teammate and fellow Boulder, CO resident, by 12 points during the Pan American Games in Santiago, Natalia Grossman qualified for the 2024 Olympics back in October of 2023 (Kelly). Grossman will be a pleasure to watch on the bouldering wall, and we’ll see if she can maintain this dominance over her teammate and the rest of the field this August.
And forgetting all patriotic loyalties . . .
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- Japan→Between Ai Mori, a major challenger on lead, and Miho Nonaka, a skilled boulderer who will put her competitors to the test (she took silver at the Tokyo games), I wouldn’t be surprised if Japan is on the podium this year. If these two competitors are on the screen, DO NOT take a snack break!
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- South Korea→While my heart will always belong to Jain Kim, balletic static-climbing guru, South Korea has produced another lead climbing star in Chaehyun Seo. Her bouldering score may be her downfall in the combined event, but Seo will give the other competitors a run for their money on lead.
Interested in learning more about climbing or the other new(er) Olympic events – breaking, skateboarding, or surfing? Check out these reads from Ohrstrom Library’s collection.”
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