| Sport climbing at the Summer Olympics |
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| IOC Code | CLB |
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| Governing body | IFSC |
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| Events | 4 (men: 2; women: 2) |
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- 1896
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- 1924
- 1928
- 1932
- 1936
- 1948
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Competition climbing has been held at two editions of the Summer Olympic Games. First selected as one of the discretionary sports at the 2020 and 2024 games, sport climbing will be inducted as one of the mandatory sports at the 2028 games. Athletes compete in the disciplines of bouldering, lead climbing, and speed climbing. All three were contested as a single event in the 2020 programme, while speed climbing was spun off into its own event in the 2024 programme. Slovenia have won the most gold medals (2), while Austria, Japan, and the United States have won the most medals overall (3 each).
Bid for inclusion
The inclusion was proposed by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) in 2015.[1] In September 2015, competition climbing was included in a shortlist along with baseball, softball, skateboarding, surfing, and karate to be considered for inclusion in the 2020 Summer Olympics;[2] and in June 2016, the executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that they would support the proposal to include all of the shortlisted sports in the 2020 Games.[3] Finally, on August 3, 2016, all five sports (counting baseball and softball together as one sport) were approved for inclusion in the 2020 Olympic program.[4]
At the 2020 Summer Olympics, two climbing events were contested: men's combined and women's combined. The competition format combined three disciplines of competition climbing: competition speed climbing, competition bouldering, and competition lead climbing. This decision caused widespread criticism in the climbing community.[5]
Members of the IFSC explained that they were only granted one gold medal per gender by the Olympic committee, and they did not want to exclude speed climbing. The IFSC's goal for the 2020 Olympics was primarily to establish climbing and its three disciplines as Olympic sports; changes to the format could follow later. This tactic proved to be successful; the 2024 Summer Olympics would expand sport climbing to separate boulder-and-lead and speed climbing events.[6][7][8]
Beginning at the 2028 Summer Olympics, the boulder and lead disciplines will be split into separate medal events.[9]
For Olympic level sports climbing, route setters are instructed to set lead climbs at a grade of between 8c (5.14b) and 9a (5.14d) for both the men's and women's events. For boulder, men's routes are set between a grade of V10 (7C+) and V14 (8B+), and women's routes between V9 (7C) and V12 (8A+).[10][11]
NB:
- Lead grades are given in French Numerical and grades in brackets () are in American YDS.
- Boulder grade are given in V-Grades and grades in brackets () are in Fb-Grades.
- Due to the climbing routes being at the highest level, routes cannot be sufficiently tested, therefore the exact grade of each route is unknown, and may not reflect the target range.
Summary
Events
| Current program
|
| Event |
2020 |
2024 |
Years
|
| Men's combined (s, b, l)
|
X
|
|
1
|
| Men's combined (b, l)
|
|
X
|
1
|
| Men's speed
|
|
X
|
1
|
| Women's combined (s, b, l)
|
X
|
|
1
|
| Women's combined (b, l)
|
|
X
|
1
|
| Women's speed
|
|
X
|
1
|
|
|
|
|
| Events |
2
|
4 |
|
Participating nations
The following nations have taken part in the Olympic climbing competition. The numbers in the table indicate the number of competitors sent to that year's Olympics.
Olympic records history
Medal table
- As of the women's combined event of 2024 Olympics[16]
Current program
Men's Combined
Men's speed
Women's combined
Women’s speed
See also
References
- ^ "IFSC Proposes Sport Climbing For Toyko 2020 Olympic Games". The British Mountaineering Council. Archived from the original on Aug 10, 2019.
- ^ "Surfing and skateboarding make shortlist for 2020 Olympics". GrindTV.com. September 28, 2015. Archived from the original on August 13, 2016. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
- ^ "IOC Executive Board supports Tokyo 2020 package of new sports for IOC Session - Olympic News". Olympic.org. June 1, 2016. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
- ^ "IOC approves five new sports for Olympic Games Tokyo 2020". Olympics.org. International Olympic Committee. August 3, 2016. Retrieved August 22, 2016.
- ^ "Rock climbing will be a 2020 Olympic sport. Here's what to expect". National Geographic. 17 April 2019. Archived from the original on Aug 10, 2019.
- ^ "Rock climbing will be a 2020 Olympic sport. Here's what to expect". National Geographic. 17 April 2019. Archived from the original on Aug 10, 2019.
- ^ "Vertical Triathlon: The Future of Climbing in the Olympics". climbing.com. 30 August 2016. Archived from the original on Aug 10, 2019.
- ^ "Olympic Committee Unanimously Votes to Include Sport Climbing in Paris 2024 Games". climbing.com. 25 June 2019. Archived from the original on Jul 4, 2019.
- ^ "LA28 to have more women athletes than men". Inside the Games. 2025-04-09. Archived from the original on 9 April 2025. Retrieved 2025-04-09.
- ^ "IN FOCUS: What does it take to become an Olympic climber?". www.ukclimbing.com. Retrieved 2024-09-27.
- ^ Clarke, Owen (2024-07-31). "Just How Hard is Olympic Sport Climbing?". Climbing. Retrieved 2024-09-27.
- ^ "Sport Climbing – Men's Combined – Speed Qualification Results" (PDF). Tokyo 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 August 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
- ^ "Sport Climbing – Women's Combined – Speed Qualification Results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-08-04. Retrieved 2021-08-08.
- ^ "Sport Climbing – Women's Combined – Speed Final Brackets" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-08-06. Retrieved 2021-08-08.
- ^ "Sport Climbing - Women's Speed, Qualification Seeding heats Results". 5 August 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
- ^ "Sport Climbing - Medal Standings" (PDF). Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. 8 August 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
External links
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