UKC

The IFSC has announced a new athlete health policy concerning Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) and eating disorders ahead of the 2024 season. In order to be declared fit to compete, athletes will undergo screening and evaluation via their national federations combined with random in-competition testing by the IFSC. This IOC-backed, targeted RED-S policy is the first of its kind in the sporting world. 

Read more

Let’s hope the BMC / GB Climbing adds the IFSC info as an appendix to its Welfare Policy. 

However I am worried by leaving it to National Federations to monitor I suspect some Federations may be very reluctant to suspend a high performing athlete as it could affect sponsorship, rankings, etc etc (not accusing GB Climbing of this) but there are some unscrupulous Federations out there. The proof will be in the pudding to see if this starts to work, it is definitely a step in the right direction, however it will only be effective if it is well monitored.

yeah, i feel like that’s the problem with every realistic approach to this – more airtight systems can be imagined, but are they realistic? but if i recall correctly, one big point of criticism was that the IFSC did collect quite some data, but all it could do was write mildly worded letters to the respective national federations.

compared to that, it looks like they did step up to a degree:

1. the IFSC now provides outlines for what the national federations need to provide for each athlete. they are far from cheat proof, but they can be performed by national federations that are super young, barely funded, or far from the medical infrastructure needed to provide more conclusive diagnoses. and given that part of the call to action came from athletes as well, i hope the base of support for these measures is broad enough across multiple strata to provide some motivation to not get caught playing fast and loose with them.

2. with the IFSC doing some random testing, there’s a chance to catch people/federations grossly futzing with data. evaluation of data for the issuing of licences is also in the hands of the IFSC via their assessment tool. and with athletes of concern requiring clearance from qualified professionals in matters REDs, it’s probably a bit more involved to cheat your way out of things on that end as well.

compared to how unilateral things were before – national federations sending athletes, and the IFSC being unable to enact any consequences, even with solid evidence in hand – they are involved to a higher degree now.