UKC

Congratulations!  Way back when this site started, did you ever imagine that you'd be doing this?

T.

Fantastic news, well done guys! I was quite worried that the coverage of the climbing in 2020 would be quite poor, if done by outlets with no clue about the sport, but looks like that now won't be the case at all!

Let's hope Angel from onbouldering & Udo Neumann got their press passes too.

They wouldn't be allowed to film anything though.

Yay! Looking forward to the coverage. It's been great on the site so far anyway.

A Tokyo 2020 section in the News dropdown would be good

That's already in the works, there will be a page that just shows Olympic news (or Sport Climbing News, Bouldering News, etc), a bit like you can filter skills posts by activity (https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/skills/indoor/)

Why, have UKB and 8a.nu got the coverage rights?

Andy F

Who gets to go then? A full team jolly to Tokyo ain't gonna be cheap  . I can imagine Alan will getting extra special presents from the UKC team for chrimbo this year. 

My money is on Natalie to master Japanese first

The official Olympic language is French.
So, let Natalie learn Japanese, while you learn French and get to go off on the jolly of a lifetime...

Nice plan. Slight flaw in that Nat has a degree in French!

Alan

In that case, have a nice time in Tokyo Natalie!

It’s okay - Nat’s already fluent in French. She’s a language legend!

My languages offered are Elvish runes/Anglo Saxon/Ancient Norse. Can’t wait for that trip... 

Oh that's just cheating. Didn't she also compete for the British team as well? 

Perhaps we can suggest a competition format for the UKC staff? Top 3 get to go on a all expenses business jolly to one of most expensive cities on earth. 

My vote is a speed climbing showdown

I would suggest a good starting point for meeting / interviewing team  is popping down to The Hub the GB Climbing Team Training Wall at Rock Over Climbing where the team are every month training away... You would get some great film footage and interview etc... they have been training every month since October 2017 when Rock Over built for the team their own dedicated training wall, with dedicated setting and have provided training sessions every month since for the team and squad

You forgot to mention how brilliant and amazing Rock Over is  :p

Never heard of it

Excellent news. Well deserved. Need any interns to carry your bags

Competition for the 20 male and 20 female qualification slots is going to be fierce.  No Jamaican bobsled teams here! There are going to be a lot of heart-broken, talented athletes who don't make the cut.

My money's on Janja to win gold on the female side. No idea for the men. 

When I spoke with Sean McColl a few months ago, I told him I hoped he'd be an announcer because I think he's the best athlete commentator. He said they're hoping to move away from a model where an athlete who doesn't make finals calls finals and to have have a paid athlete in that role. Hopefully that'll be the case and Sean will get the job. He's aces all the way around.

Climbing is growing up at long last.

We just do our very best to support the GB Climbing Team as best we can. They are all in tomorrow for their Christmas Session, morning of dynamic and coordination bloc training and then afternoon working through World Cup standard blocs, followed by functional movement session and finally well earned dinner... 

See you in Tokyo Nat