Will climbing clear the next hurdle in its bid to gain Olympic status for 2020? Tomorrow – coincidentally on the 60th anniversary of the first ascent of Everest – climbing will pitch its final bid to the International Olympic Committee (IOC); a bid that is backed by the British Mountaineering Council (BMC) and welcomed by British mountaineer Sir Chris Bonington.
Bonington, who took the Olympic torch to the top of Snowdon in the run up to London2012, said: “Competition climbing has been an important part of our sport for a long time. It’s an exciting and challenging event both for the participants and the spectators. The proposed triathlon event will test the full range of climbing abilities and at the same time will make terrific viewing.
“Climbing is already carried out in a huge number of countries around the world and can be practiced anywhere. As a sport for the young – particularly school groups – it is immensely popular and effective for developing personal responsibility, where the belayer is responsible for the safety and perhaps even life of the climber.”
Climbing is one of eight sports vying for a place in the 2020 Olympics programme. On 29 May, each sport will present its bid to the IOC’s executive board in St Petersburg, Russia, before the final shortlist is announced. Only three sports are expected to go through to the final IOC vote on 7 September at the 125th Plenary Assembly of the IOC in Buenos Aires.
On Wednesday, the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) will present its bid for sport climbing and propose a multi-discipline climbing event which will combine speed climbing, lead climbing and bouldering – the three different climbing disciplines contested in international competitions. This triathlon of climbing reflects the Olympic motto ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’ in that:
-
Speed climbing involves climbers racing up identical routes to see who can get to the top in the fastest time.
-
Lead climbing (with ropes) tests the endurance of climbers as they compete to see who can get highest.
-
Bouldering (without ropes) is the ultimate climbing test of strength and power.
The GB Climbing Team is also flying the flag for climbing’s Olympic bid. Today (23 May), team members are training at the Roaches, a premier climbing crag in Staffordshire, managed by Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, to show the full breadth of what climbing has to offer.
Team manager Gareth Parry said: “It would be fantastic for our climbers to have the opportunity to compete in the Olympics. We have some excellent young climbers who would be medal hopes for 2020. Twenty-year-old Shauna Coxsey is currently ranked third in the world for bouldering and fifteen-year-old Molly Thompson-Smith is also ranked third in the juniors. With role models like these the future is bright.”
Among others supporting the bid are double gold medallist at the 2004 Olympics
Dame Kelly Holmes and British mountain guide
Kenton Cool, who just this week has made his record breaking eleventh summit of Everest, and
Kenton Cool said:
“The 29th May, 2013 will be a momentous day for climbing. It is the 60th anniversary of the first successful summit of Mount Everest and it is the date the IFSC will present their case to the IOC. I’m backing the bid. In 1894 Baron Pierre de Coubertin reconstituted the modern Olympic movement and made a deliberate choice to include our sport of climbing. He felt so strongly about climbing’s inclusion that in 1924 he personally awarded the first ever Olympic Gold Medals for Mountaineering, and in 2012 I fulfilled the subsequent promise made by Great Britain to Baron Pierre de Coubertin and the IOC to place one of the 1924 Mountaineering Olympic Gold Medals onto the summit of the world’s highest mountain ‘for all humanity’. Climbing is the very essence of everything Baron Pierre de Coubertin meant when he wrote the Olympic motto of ‘higher, faster, stronger’, and it was there on the very first day of the modern Olympics.”
Alan Hinkes, British mountaineer and London 2012 Olympic Torch bearer, said:
“It has to be serendipity - the bid for rock climbing to be included the Olympic Games - presented for the final shortlist on the 60th anniversary of the 1st ascent of Everest 29 May. Good Karma as many a Sherpa might claim. Good luck to the GB Team. As an Olympic Torchbearer I appreciate the enthusiasm that the Olympics can engender & indoor rock climbing as an Olympic sport will definitely match the Olympic motto of : 'Citius, Altius, Fortius' 'Faster, Higher, Stronger'.”
Dave Turnbull, BMC chief executive officer said:
“The BMC is fully behind the bid to see climbing in the 2020 Olympics. The GB Climbing Team is going from strength to strength and includes world class athletes who are reaching the podiums. The proposed Olympic triathlon event of three climbing disciplines would be impressive to watch and embodies the Olympic motto perfectly: Faster – speed climbing; Higher – lead climbing; Stronger – bouldering. This week is absolutely crucial for climbing’s bid as we wait to hear whether climbing makes the final three.”
Rob Adie, BMC competitions officer, said:
"Climbing has all the excitement and adrenaline of the extreme sport that it is. Climbers make big dynamic movements on large overhangs holding on by their fingertips and can take big crowd-wowing falls. It also includes the grace and poise of gymnastics and the tension and endurance of strength sports, making it a fantastic spectacle to watch."
You can support the bid:
« Back