Sport climbing is one of eight sports which will battle it out for a place in the 2020 Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced a shortlist of sports to be considered. 

They are baseball, karate, roller sports, softball, squash, wakeboard, wushu and – for the first time – climbing.

A decision on which sport to include will be made in Buenos Aires in 2013 by an IOC vote.

The BMC National Council agreed in 2009 to support the idea of climbing becoming an Olympic sport after a consultation of BMC Areas. This support is based on competitions taking place on artificial structures only.

CEO Dave Turnbull said: "We welcome the news that competition climbing is in with a chance of becoming an Olympic sport. This is a great opportunity to put climbing on the world stage and an exciting prospect for the British Climbing Team which continues to go from strength to strength.

"The BMC very much supports the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) as they take the bid forward. We’ll be discussing this further with sports minister Hugh Robertson later this year when he hosts a reception for the climbing team in Westminster."

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