There are now just 500 days to go until Sport Climbing makes its debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Today, the official pictograms of the Games of the XXXII Olympiad were unveiled, including Sport Climbing's first ever Olympic pictogram. These icons are used to aid communication with an international audience at the Games, and were first used during the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games.

The Sport Climbing events will be held from the 4th-7th August 2020 in the Aomi Urban Sports Park, Tokyo. UKC will be present at the Games having successfully applied for a press accreditation. In the meantime, we will be collaborating with the IFSC on an Olympic public engagement project having been identified as a key player within the climbing industry.

During the 129th International Olympic Committee Session in Rio de Janeiro in August 2016, Sport Climbing was selected as part of a package of five new sports - alongside baseball/softball, surfing, skateboarding and karate - to be included in the Tokyo 2020 Games. The Olympic Combined format will consist of a 'triathlon' format of Speed, Boulder and Lead with an overall winner decided on performance across all three disciplines. 20 men and 20 women will compete for one of 6 places per category in the Olympic final. The IFSC explains the competition format in detail in an online document.

In the coming months, we aim to increase Olympic coverage in the run up to the Tokyo 2020 Games. Stay tuned for an in-depth look at Britain's Olympic hopefuls, the selection process and news reports from IFSC events throughout the 2019 season. We will also be keeping a close eye on proceedings involving Sport Climbing's inclusion in Paris 2024, for which it has been proposed as a larger event, including another set of medals and thereby doubling both the medal and athlete quota of Tokyo 2020. Pending IOC approval, disciplines would be split between an individual Speed competition and a combined Lead/Bouldering event. 12 medals would be up for grabs (6 in Speed, 6 in Lead/Boulder combined between men and women).

Read the full athlete selection criteria for the Tokyo 2020 Games here.

In the meantime, read some Olympics-related articles and news reports linked below: