UKC

The Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have announced their support of a proposal to add a package of five new sports (baseball/softball, karate, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing) to the programme of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

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In reply to UKC News:


Includes speed climbing?
What a joke.

In reply to samwillo:


Yes, there will probably be an unofficial lead gold medallist, an unofficial bouldering gold medallist and an official gold medallist that nobody's ever heard of or cares about.

In reply to Robert Durran:
Combining them into one event with one medal also seems ridiculous. Why not have a medal for each discipline? The only reason I can see for this is that the IOC think that one athlete would win them all, which is clearly not the case.

In reply to Robert Durran:

Like Sean McColl?

In reply to ianstevens:

The reason they are having to do it this way is because climbing will only be allocated 1 medal and a combined event was considered the fairest way rather than trying to decide between the 3 main climbing disciplines its not ideal but better than not at all

In reply to UKC News:

Personally, I don't want to see climbing become an olympic event. To me, climbing's about challenging yourself, getting out there, and having adventures. I'm primarily a trad climber though, so I guess I'm bound to think that way.

My worry is that if sports climbing becomes too mainstream, it will have an impact on trad climbing in terms of regulations etc and I'd hate to see that.

Am I being selfish? Probably. But that's the way I feel about it. Down with this sort of thing!

In reply to Phil Anderson:


Quite agree, and I feel exactly the same way about my running, cycling and skiing


Has mountain biking changed since it's been in the olympics ? As yet no one has jumped out of the bushes to demand a urine sample, or tell me that my bike doesn't meet olympic standards.

People have been scaremongering about comps for years, claiming it's going to ruin the whole ethos of the sport. And yet to me the whole of ethos is that you can enjoy it in whichever way you want - bouldering to mountaineering, super safe sport to run-out trad, wilderness or indoor, and yes, purely for your own satisfaction or in a comp.

In reply to UKC News:

I think that it's great if it'll be in the Tokyo Olympics. I'm sure it will have a good reception there as competition climbing is popular in Japan and there are strong local climbers. I hope it will continue to be an Olympic sport, but having a good local response on its Olympic debut seems like an important start, and Japan has been hosting World Cup events successfully. I would much rather see a biathlon of lead and boulder, but understand that speed climbing has to be included.

In reply to nathan.h90: I bet karate isn't restricted to one medal for each gender.

In reply to Phil Anderson: Another thin end of the wedge argument. Unless we become a totalitarian state, you'll always be able to have trad adventures in the mountains, where nobody will want to spend the effort bolting and monitoring all the routes. Your fear about increasing regulation etc is however a possible long term scenario at convenience crags (but not in my lifetime I hope)

In reply to nathan.h90:

*2 main, and another one.

In reply to UKC News:
Well, it's not climbing as I recognise it but........ Bloody hell!

youtube.com/watch?v=n4n6xfu8VDU&

Anyone know what grade it equates to?

In reply to nathan.h90:

Except that the third emphatically *isn't* anywhere near the top three. I don't know precisely how many people indulge in competitive speed climbing (I think it's 5, but it might be 6) but there are a few branches of the sport that come higher up the participation pecking order, inlcuding bouldering and even dry tooling.

I'd be happier if it went nowhere near the olympics.

In reply to Oceanrower:
Think it is about 6b ish.

In reply to Scott K:

Ok, thanks. They make it look about 3+ish!

In reply to tk421:


Don't think McColl has ever won a speed event. He has won the overall title because he's one of very few climbers who actually enter more than one discipline and he's really good at both bouldering and lead.

In reply to UKC News:


Although I'm not a big fan of comps, I think it's a good thing that all these very dedicated comp climbers get also the opportunity to win an olympic medal, being the cherry on the cake of successful career. But..this combo of the 3 disciplines is way artificial.... especially as there are no medals for the winners in the single events, which are real disciplines on their own and merit an individual medal. Just imagine there won't be medals in the ski downhill, slalom ... race, just one medal for the overall best.

In reply to stp:

Yep. I'd be very surprised if the overall, boulder or lead winner wasn't someone we'd heard of before.
Ondra training for speed would be fast enough to be competitive. Then it's just down to the other 2...
Ashima for gold?

In reply to Oceanrower:

I presume it's a predefined route that can be replicated at any wall in the world, and that the route at Awesome walls in Sheffield is set to that template. If so its about 6a/b.

I guess many of us feel a bit uneasy about speed climbing - it's quite alien to us. I'd also say they need to make the routes a fair bit harder - 6 seconds is too short for a sporting spectacle. Given the limitations on the medals, having a triple event will add a certain drama - always find decathlon/heptathlon/omnium interesting to follow because of the ebb and flow as competitors have strong and weak events.

I regard this sort of climbing as applied gymnastics, gymnastics with a purpose if you like. Has the distinct advantage that the outcome is not subjective, not subject to the whims of judges. Furthermore both sexes can compete the same way, whereas in gymnastics men are primarily judged on strength and women primarily on poise and grace - the latter is a cause for concern.

In reply to Chris the Tall:

It was much better when the speed routes were different each time, with routes demonstrated but not climbed in advance by the competitors. One big advantage was that the times would get quicker each round as the climbers refined their sequences, so it was far better to watch. I gather they standardised the route to facilitate setting records, but to my mind they lost a lot more than they gained in doing so.

In reply to stp:

Sean won a gold at World Youth Champs about 12 years ago in Speed, it was classic speed back then ie the route changed every time (like John Arran describes).

Quite a few climbers do well at more than one discipline eg Jakob Schubert, Mina Markovich, Akiyo Noguchi, Jain Kim and going back a bit Kleman Becan, and going even further back Saandrine Levet who won 2 golds in one weekend, at the Lead and Boulder WC at Ratho in 2003.

In reply to john arran:

Skiing manages pretty well without much concern over world records

One thing that does concern me though, is the route setting. I believe in skiing the coaches take turns to set the slalom courses. Will we see the same in climbing ?

As the stakes get it higher, how will impartiality fare ? When I've seen the bouldering comes at Cliffhanger, the honesty and good sportsmanship was clear, but will it scale up ? I suspect there is more scope for bias in setting climbs than pistes.

In reply to Chris the Tall:


Women aren't judged at Gymnastics primarily on poise and grace.

Artistry itself is only one sixth of the score and there are two juries, one just scoring difficulty.

I'm sure this is some over-concerned white knighting on your part but if you only see poise and grace and not the difficulty, perhaps you're just being too patronising?

In reply to nathan.h90:


Speed climbing isn't one of the main climbing disciplines and it was never a three way fight, no-one wanted just speed climbing.

Speed Climbing is in to offer more of a spectacle, especially with it's very obvious winners, in an exciting duel.

In reply to Oceanrower:


The 'official' speed routes at Ratho are marked 6b+ however they feel a bit easier than an average 6b at Ratho. If I was grading it I'd put it somewhere between 6a+ and 6b. It's not like a conventional route in that finger strength and footwork don't help much you just jump, grab for a couple of fairly good bits on the holds and pull.

In reply to UKC News:

The IFSC has commissioned an ethics charter for the Olympics, written by Marc le Menestral:

http://climbing-ethics.galactron.org/Charte-d-ethique-de-l-escalade.html

In reply to Natalie Berry - UKC:



It is good that climbing will be in the Olympics but it is a shame it needs to get involved in this kind of political BS as a price of entry.

I've been around long enough to notice that organisations with ethics codes and values statements are generally far more corrupt than those that don't.

In reply to Graeme Alderson:

Doesn't Sean still hold the Canadian Speed Record?

In reply to ianstevens:

Because there is a limit on the number of medals in any games (310), and this keeps the overall number down, and also because there is an inevitable jump in standards when a sport is included in the olympics, and by reducing the specialisation, the likely effect is to reduce this increase, as the winner will have to be VERY good at at least 2 disciplines, and pretty good at the third .

In reply to Ian W:

I doubt it, Bob Stewart-Patterson got properly into training for speed once Libor Horza moved to Canada as a coach.

In reply to Graeme Alderson:

Good call. I just googled it, BS-P did 6.67 in 2014.

In reply to Ian W:
You Googled a comp question. Surely you should have Graemed it

In reply to winhill:


I suspect it's in to win the support of the ex-soviet countries who invented competition climbing and are still politically influential in sporting circles.

In reply to Graeme Alderson:

Tried that; only got part of the answer........:p